


Train Wreck Meets Dumpsterfire

by Space_Spazz_101



Series: Blood Gulch Freelancers [8]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe, Author Makes Fun of Director, Blood Gulch Chronicles, First Meetings, Fix-It of Sorts, Freelancer Caboose, Freelancer Doc, Freelancer Donut, Freelancer Grif, Freelancer Kaikaina Grif, Freelancer Lopez, Freelancer Sarge, Freelancer Simmons, Freelancer Tucker, Gen, How Do I Tag, Project Freelancer, Tex Gets Hugs, it gets weird before it gets better
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 75,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22997452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Space_Spazz_101/pseuds/Space_Spazz_101
Summary: It has been several months since Agent Texas has joined the Mother of Invention and everyone is still dancing on eggshells.That all starts to change when the Director calls everyone in for a mission. They had lost contact with a satellite base and he needs the Freelancers to investigate the sudden silence. But all is not as it seems.Join Washington, Carolina, Tex, and all the other Freelancers as they meet and try to survive the craziest Freelancers in the Project.
Relationships: Agent Carolina/Agent York (Red vs. Blue), Dexter Grif/Dick Simmons, Franklin Delano Donut/Frank "Doc" DuFresne, Lavernius Tucker/Agent Washington
Series: Blood Gulch Freelancers [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1092795
Comments: 145
Kudos: 150





	1. The Train Leaves the Station

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> Hello world! this is Spazz with my first fanfiction. If it is great thank the wonderful Jade for letting me give this a go. If its not please let me know how I can improve it! Jade is really good at keeping this in character but I wanted to surprise them so this isn't edited.  
> Thank you for encouraging me for writing Jade! 
> 
> Without further ado.  
> On with the story!!!!

Agent Washington was leaving the mess hall when his coms alerted him that he was needed in the briefing room in 10 minutes. He let out a groan, that meant he had 10 minutes to get to his room on one side of the Mother of Invention and then get to the briefing room on the other side. He would have to run. It would the first mission they had given out since Agent Texas had joined and York had been hurt. He really shouldn’t be late.

*_*_*_*_*_*

Wash had a minuet before the meeting was supposed to begin. He was the last agent to make it to the briefing room. Every able bodied person from the leaderboard was gathered, even Texas. As Wash entered the room with a final burst of energy; he managed to barrel straight into Agent Texas. “I’m so-OW!” Wash hadn’t even been down for thirty seconds before he was being hoisted up by his armpits by North who immediately began to berate him for his recklessness. 

He caught sight of Agent Texas as she stood up. Although she was wearing her helmet, she seemed to be looking at him through her visor. “C’mon Rookie, the Director and Counselor are on their way!” South whisper-shouted at him, causing Wash to break almost-eye contact with the other Freelancer, as they all moved to stand in a line at parade rest.

They heard the Director and Counselor coming before the door opened, that by itself was out of the ordinary. The Counselor never spoke louder than his usual neutral tone, and the Director may have been prone to the occasional sharp outburst but never this loud. By the time the two were standing outside the door the gathered Freelancers could hear the entire conversation.

The two had always done their best to present themselves as a unified force when they spoke before the agents. Which was why what they were doing behind the closed door was so shocking. The Director and Counselor were arguing! Or as close to arguing the Counselor ever got. 

“-we don’t know if it is just a malfunction with communications, there have been reports of solar storms in that region. That could have caused a loss of communications.” The Counselor sounded tired. That was the best word for it. The normally calm and collective counselor showing any kind of emotion was a rarity none of the gathered Freelancers and techs had ever heard. It caused all activity going on in the briefing room to slow down so that the conversation could be heard better. 

The Director’s sharp and irritated voice was more familiar. Often heard when he was rebuking one of triplets or even Wash himself when they had caused trouble. It was rare for it to be aimed towards the Counselor. His biting retort cut off the rest of whatever the Counselor wanted to add. “Counsellor, my mind is made up they have missed three check-ins. Regardless of their possible communications mishaps. I am sending the team.”

The Director ended the conversation by entering the briefing room. He turned towards the gathered Freelancers, all doing their best not to look like they had been eavesdropping. Without a word of greeting the Director started the briefing.

“Last week we lost contact with a satellite training facility. All communications have been shut down and we have yet to re-establish communication. You will be investigating this base to see what is going on.” Everyone was in mission mode now. The shock of seeing their leaders argue was put to the side in favor of focusing on the newest mission.

“What’s housed inside the satellite base sir?” Carolina questioned. Her entire body was tense. Wash wasn’t sure if it was just from being in the same area as the person who put York in the hospital or if it was the chance to get back out in the field after being cooped up on the Mother of Invention for the last few months but she looked ready to get on a pelican and go at a moment’s notice.

“The counselor has taken up a pet project, called Bravo team. They are a mix of specialized SIM soldiers and former UNSC troops. They aren’t at a skill level operatives here maintain which is why they have never been on the Mother of Invention. However, they are skilled enough that they served as beta testers for some of the more dangerous enhancements and have some intelligence on our operations. Which is why it is imperative that what they know not fall into the hands of the Insurgence.” The Director answered his tone clipped as he pulled up a holographic display of a standard SIM boxed canyon.

“You will go to their outpost and find out what happened to them. If there are any survivors bring them back. We do not have any blueprints of the satellite base beyond what to expect from a standard SIM bases.” The director gave them a moment to process this information before he moved to continue.

“Since you will be going in blind the entire team will be sent to ensure optimum success. That will include Agent Texas.” The Director again paused to look at the entire group. No one spoke, not daring to be the one to anger the tightly wound Director. Most had already guessed that she would be on the mission from her presence in the briefing room.

“Carolina you will be leading this mission, Agent Texas will be your second in command.” That got a response. “But sir-” Carolina began to object. Drawing everyone’s’ gaze at her sudden interruption. “But nothing Agent Carolina. The accident was not Texas’ fault, you should not let your emotions cloud your judgement. With Agent York still healing in the Medbay from Agent Maine’s grenade you are down a man already. Besides the experience will do her some good for when the time comes for her to lead her own team.” The Director cut off Carolina sharply, leveling a scowl in her direction, before he began to go over the base’s layout and defenses.

Everyone looked away from Carolina to pay closer attention to the Director’s briefing. But Wash turned his gaze towards Texas. Although he couldn’t see what must be a hurt expression through her visor, he could practically sense it. Despite all the mystery and fear that shrouded Agent Texas Wash couldn’t help but feel a kindship with her. He had been the unwanted rookie before she had joined up. But he had managed to push past that when York and North had taken pity on the confused newbie. 

Texas hadn’t had that chance. Since she had been introduced to the Mother of Invention a few months ago she had been avoided like the plague. Whispers and rumors had prevented technicians and workers from approaching her unless strictly necessary. Even other freelancers had approached her with caution. Only working with her for training when ordered. Otherwise she sat alone during lessons, ate in her room alone, and trained alone.

“Agent Washington will provide any support that Agent York may have provided…” Wash jerked back to the briefing hearing his name. He resolved to approach Agent Texas before this whole thing started. It was the least he could do. 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_TRAIN_WRECK_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

The briefing couldn’t have been over soon enough. Carolina let out a soft exhale as those assembled were dismissed to prep for the mission. They had been ordered to prep for the mission and get some sleep. They would be leaving in 16 hours for the satellite base.

It wasn’t bad enough that the Director had gone behind her back and added Texas to the roster without asking for her input, but he also decided to inform her of the change in the lineup with the team. And then to make matters worse she had to lose control in the middle of the meeting over it in front of everyone. Texas had left immediately, rushing to catch the Counselor before he left. 

“Wait! You forgot your commlink!” Wash called after her, holding the com unit she had lost in their collision at the beginning of the meeting. 

“Forget about it. I’ll get it to her tomorrow when we leave.” Carolina growled, snatching the device from his hand and walking out before he could protest. Carolina managed to find comfort in the fact that the mission wouldn’t start for several hours. She could meet with York and tell him that he wouldn’t get any company for a while.

As she walked towards the Medbay Carolina examined Texas’ stolen commlink. She had a different com unit than everyone else. Of course, she did. She was a special case after all. Carolina made it to the Medbay before she could investigate what made Texas’ commlink so special.

Taking a breath to center herself. Carolina put all thoughts of Texas and the Director to the side. She needed to focus on not stressing York out. Or it would hinder his recovery. Carolina took off her helmet and opened the door. Carolina tried to put something resembling a smile on her face only to freeze.

York wasn’t in his bed.

Carolina was about to call a search party when she heard a voice behind her. “Wow isn’t this a nice surprise. I was hoping to surprise you with my recovery in your room, but I guess you beat me to it.” York’s voice coming from behind her had Carolina relax minutely.

“You’re ok.” She scolded herself for sounding so relieved, but York had been touch-and-go for a while. Not that Carolina had been concerned. “Yea, I should be released in a few hours. So, I should be ok enough to join you on the mission tomorrow.” He was right behind her now. She would only have to lean back an inch and they would be touching. Carolina still hadn’t turned towards him. She couldn’t show emotion right now, not after her outburst in the briefing. She needed to be the best and the best didn’t get emotional. 

“Are you sure, you are alright to go on this?” That was a good, professional subject. No way to drift into more personal waters. “I wouldn’t push it with ‘alright,’ I’m ok.” He repeated. Not crossing the few centimeters needed to make the contact that both of them craved. “But I will be well enough for a recon mission.” York kept the discussion professional, never straying into topics she didn’t want to go into. Carolina was thankful for that.

They spent maybe an hour just like that. Not touching, not looking at each other, only talking only about the upcoming mission. Finally, a medic came in to discharge York. After they gave him one more look over York was deemed well enough to return to active duty so long as he didn’t push himself too hard.

They went their separate ways after that. York to get the green light from the Director and her to get ready for the mission in the morning. 

The night passed uneventfully, Carolina prepped for the mission, York had sent her a message before she had fallen asleep. her the Director had no problem about letting him on the mission. 

As Carolina was getting ready for the mission in her room when she heard a beeping coming from a commlink. Scrambling for her own commlink Carolina realized it wasn’t coming from her com. 

Carolina still had Texas’ commlink and it was unlocked.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_MEETS_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

The plane was prepped and ready for the mission. They were supposed to leave in ten minutes.

So where was Texas?

CT, South, and North were standing on the ramp. They were trying to talk a surprisingly stubborn Agent Washington out of something in their own unique ways. Whatever it was he wanted to do must be a bad idea because South kept repeating “rip your arms out of their sockets” as CT and North tried to get him to forget about his plan. Wyoming and Florida had been strapping in for the ride but had traveled to the top of the ramp to see what all the noise was about. 

“Sorry I’m late but I was trying to talk an idiot out of doing something stupid.” Agent Texas’ voice cut through the squabbling. There was a grunt of agreement from Maine as steps signaled that their wayward teammates had joined them. “Hey! I am ok enough to be on this mission I was discharged and the Director gave his stamp of approval.” York’s voice protested. His voice coming from behind the other two.

“Are you sure that you should be up?” Wash had apparently abandoned arguing with the others and had moved to stand beside York, as if afraid that he would collapse with the slightest breeze.

“Yea, I’m doing ok. I should be good enough for a simple recon mission. Beside I can’t leave the Rookie to fuck up when I’m available.” York’s voice was light and teasing but there was a slight flinch from the Rookie in question. As the others were poking fun at Wash and double checking that York would be alright on this mission. Carolina took a moment to back up into the plane and look at Texas’ commlink again.

She hadn’t had much time to investigate. The message had just been a reminder from the Counselor to be at the 7th docking bay in an hour but she had found a massive number of saved messages ranging from a few minutes to several hours, some were dating back to a week after she had joined the Mother of Invention and the most recent lined up with the time they had lost contact with the satellite. If she had more time, she could have listened to some of the messages and gotten rid of any evidence of her snooping. But as it stood, she couldn’t risk letting Texas know that she was on to her. The entire thing was suspicious, the times lined up too perfectly and Carolina resolved to meet with the Director and Counselor after the whole thing was over to ensure that Texas was watched. Because Carolina probably found their mole.

Carolina couldn’t help but smile under her helmet as everyone moved to join her. That was probably why the Director had made Texas the second in command. So that Carolina could keep a close eye on the potential mole.

After all, on an easy recon and recovery mission like this. What could go wrong?

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_DUMPSTER_FIRE_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*


	2. The Dumpster Ignights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alpha Squad has landed at the satellite base. It all seems normal until it isn't. Florida makes a friend. Wash overhears something. Stay tuned to find out who and what!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I got nervous and started to write the second chapter. Thanks again to Jade for helping me with some of the dialog.  
> Now, onward with chapter two!!!!

They had landed without a hitch. That probably should have been their first clue that everything would go to Hell in a handbasket.

“Ok, we’re a few clicks from Blood Gulch Outpost. You may now disengage your seatbelts and prep for your mission. And Washington if you puked in my cabin again you will be cleaning the entire thing with your toothbrush.” 479er called over the planes’ PA. Wash let out a groan. He would have sworn that the others had convinced her to fly more erratically than necessary to keep him from talking to Texas.

Wash had missed his chance to talk to her yesterday when he had picked up her commlink and the others had prevented him from trying to talk to her beforehand, and during the flight his own motion sickness had kept him from opening his mouth for fear of meeting his breakfast again.

Everyone got up and started to check that everything was working and make sure that everything was ready to move. Wash let out a sigh. Texas began to fumble looking through her own bag. “Texas if you’re looking for your commlink I have it.” Carolina called. Throwing it at her. “Thanks” Texas spoke. Something like relief in her voice. Wash was dragged away from the pelican before he could even consider opening his mouth. So much for talking to Tex before the mission started, he would have to settle for talking to her after the mission was over.

*_*_*_*

The canyon was a short trek from the parked pelican, close enough that vehicles were not necessary but just far enough to not be picked up on any sensors.

As they looked over the canyons ridge, they saw what they would expect to see from any SIM base. Two bases on opposing sides, one red the other blue. What wasn’t normal was the small metallic box in the middle of the canyon where the Deadman’s Land usually stood. It looked almost like an outhouse. The outhouse-like object suddenly opened as they watched. Two soldiers stepped out of it. It must have been an elevator of some sort. There wasn’t enough room for storage of any kind.

“They did a pretty good job whoever they are. They got the regulation colors perfect, but they missed the fact that Reds and Blues are supposed to hate each other” York whispered to Wash.

As they watched the two soldiers part ways to patrol the canyons’ rim, Carolina took command quickly “Ok here is the plan. North you and York take up positions on each end, I want eyes on both the bases and those soldiers. Wyoming, Florida go to the command center in the caves. See if you can find what happened here since we lost contact. The rest of us will break up into teams and investigate the bases. Prioritize locating hostages and recovering data. Do your best to keep for triggering any alarms.” A glance was sent to CT and South at that comment. “Is everyone clear?” Carolina questioned.

“Absolutely. “Wyoming  
“Affirmative” Florida  
“Whatever” CT  
“Hnn” Maine  
“Will do.” York  
“Sure thing Mom.” South  
“Roger.” North  
“Sure thing, boss.” Wash finished  
“Sounds good. Break on three?” The blue soldier

...

Everyone jumped at the sudden addition to their huddle. It was the regulation blue trooper from earlier. He was still crouched over as if he was in a huddle with a ghost football team . He glanced at them after two beats of silence.  
“You guys, we are supposed to count to three and then break or maybe it’s count to two and break when you say three? That has never been very clear to me. But we are still supposed to count before we stop huddling.”

There were guns pointed at him now. “Well howdy their big fella, who are you?” Florida stepped in front of the trooper, signaling them to lower their weapons. “Oh, I am sorry I did not introduce myself. I am not supposed to share my actual name, or the fairies will try and take control of me, but everyone calls me Mass” The blue trooper, now identified as Mass, took Florida’s offered hand and shook it vigorously. “Well, we wouldn’t want that would we now?” Florida answered as if that statement was the most normal thing in the world. He others, that call you Mass, were they at this base before you showed up?” Florida continued. 

The blue soldier hadn’t moved to alert anyone of their visitors and he seemed to be telling the truth as far as anyone could tell. “I do not think so. I never met any other people that were here before me, besides the leader and Ricco I was the first person here. Everyone that was here before me had gone away a long time ago.” That didn’t sound good. That meant that Bravo team had to have been wiped out or taken before this soldier came in.

“Isn’t that interesting. And what are you doing right now?” Florida’s voice gave no indication of his inner thoughts, but the slight tensing of his shoulders indicated that he was thinking what they all were. “Oh, I was scouting the canyon for any new friends! We heard that there might be some new friends visiting us soon… Hey are you-” Florida cut off the trooper before he could continue his train of thought. “Wow, new friends, that sounds great! How about you look that way and we look this way? We will call you if we find anything.” For a beat it didn’t seem like this Mass character would fall for it but then he responded with a cheerful glee only expressed by children, and extremely immature adults, on a sugar rush.

“OK!!!!!!!!” and then he was gone.  
They waited a few seconds to see if they could find Mass again, but he had vanished. 

“What’d I miss?” Texas’ voice had startled everyone out of their stunned silence. No one answered her, instead they all turned to look at Carolina again.

“Ok new plan.”  
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

“I hate this plan” Washington whispered to Maine as they crept through what had been the red SIM base. They were the demolition team for this base. They would place the charges as South and Florida scavenged what they could from the bases’ computers. North, York, Wyoming, and CT were at blue base doing the same as Texas and Carolina were inspecting the metal plated elevator. They had an hour to work before they destroyed the base.

Maine only grunted in response. They had yet to meet anyone as they traversed the hallways. Wash was getting worried as only the muted sounds of their footsteps echoed through the vacant building. “We have been from one side of this base to the other and we haven’t seen anyone. Maybe that Mass guy was just a SIM trooper left behind when the groups were relocated? It wouldn’t be the first time we lost SIM troopers.”

“I don’t know Wash, if this place is down to just two SIM troopers then wouldn’t there be more dust or something? These bases are too clean for two troopers to take care of.” York’s voice over comms was distorted and filled with static. It seemed like the Counselor had been right about even short-range communications being disrupted.

“But-Oof” Wash collided with Maine with a soft clang. “What?” Wash was cut off again with Maine raising his finger to his helmet signaling for silence. Then Wash herd it too, soft voices coming from down the hall. Wash and Maine both held their guns at the ready.

“Wash, report.” Carolina’s voice cut through their speakers short and crisp despite the static that disrupted the transmission. “I think we found more Maine and I are investigating.” They began to creep towards the door where there were voices coming through. As they got closer the voices became clearer.

“-like it tight down there.” Wash nearly tripped at the statement coming from behind the wall. Was that? Had he? No, Wash shook his head, it couldn’t be; he must have not gotten enough sleep, he had just missed too much of the conversation.

“Us too. We found the red guy from before and another in maroon are working near the computer terminal.” South announced causing Wash to almost miss what the unidentified person said next. 

“Make sure you use the good lube this time. The other stuff doesn’t work half as well.” Wash could feel his face begin to heat up. Why him? Why did he always end up in positions like this?

“Contact.” North spoke this time. “One guy in brown armor working on some kind of terminal. Should we engage?” Wash took a breath. It was ok. Five guys in a box canyon. They could handle that. They had them out numbered two to one. 

“Penny, I am begging you, please just stop talking” A different voice this time, masculine and frustrated -err angry- yea angry was better. Ok, that was good. It sounds like things were winding down. Sure, there was another person in there but there was also a good chance that they would be taking these two by surprise. And who knows maybe this was all just a big misunderstanding.  
“Well you haven’t given me anything else to do with my mouth while I’m waiting for you. I’ve been holding it for hours waiting for you to finish.” Scratch that. They are just getting started. Wash could feel his entire body go ramrod straight. Maine froze behind him. Wash took some comfort in the fact that he wasn’t the only one bothered by that conversation.

“Confirm. On my mark everyone, engage with the suspects. Try not to kill, we can find out more once we take back the canyon.” Carolina ordered. The static was back again. There was a good chance that they would lose contact completely. 

“Umm, Boss, that might not be such a good idea for us. I think these two are umm, engaged in something.” Wash cursed his voice cracking in the middle of his sentence, but he couldn’t help it. He did not want to go in there right now. Damn their teasing he did not want to see what the enemy was up to beyond that wall.

“Oh, just ram it Ham!” The voice, Penny called. “Oh, Fuck me. Slow down Penny or you’re going to set it off.” Penny’s companion groaned. Wash was sure he was red in the face by now and judging from Maine’s uncomfortable shift it was clear that he didn’t want to go in there either.

“What are you so worried about Rookie? You’re near the garage not the barracks it’s not as if they are fucking behind closed doors.” York spoke this time. His voice light and teasing but he could hear some of the others snickering through the static.

“Umm.” The static was worse now. Wash could barely make out his own voice coming through. That combined with the rapid beating of his heart was starting to sound like the revving of engines in his ears. Wash was about to articulate why it was such a bad idea when he heard the voice of one of the two in the garage let out a sharp alarmed cry. “Fuuuck!!!” and suddenly Wash wasn’t standing against the wall to the motor pool he was pressed against the side of an armored warthog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That seems like a good place to end. although the chaos has only just begun. Poor Wash is the first one down and by a car no less. What wil happen next? Will the freelancers discover what happened to Bravo? Will the author ever stop asking ridiculous questions and just write the next chapter?
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> -Spazz
> 
> Edit: PS if you are reading this I edited this and the first chapter to give it a bit more oomph hope you like it!!!


	3. Shit Hits the Fan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wash and Maine have lost Contact what happens next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!! It's Spazz again. If you haven't already noticed I edited the first two chapters to give it a better cohesion and fix some wording.  
> Thank you all for your support and without further ado on with the next chapter!!!

They had lost contact with Wash and Maine.

North and CT were frozen outside the room their target was in. They had heard Wash’s scream before static took over.

“Ash? Okie-? Wash? Wash? Rookie come in.” York’s voice was frantic as he tried to regain contact with their wayward teammates.

“What happened?” Texas’ voice was nearly lost in the garbled static. She had been having the most trouble staying connected. Her comms had been garbled before they had separated so she was stuck with secondhand updates from her partner. But apparently, she had heard Wash’s scream.

“We lost contact with Wash and Maine.” North answered. Still pressed against the wall. He had to fight to keep his voice down so not to alert the person in the next room. “Carolina do we still engage, or do we need to regroup? It sounds like they might have been expecting us.” North took a breath. This wasn’t his usual element. He was a snipper. He was supposed to be watching from afar, taking calculated shots, and backing up his teammates. Not in the thick of it waiting for trouble to find him. That was his sister’s job.

“Negative. We will still engage. York, Wyoming go to Wash and Maine’s last known coordinates and bail them out.” Carolina’s voice was clearer as the static began to fade again. Still nothing from Wash or Maine. “Ten-four old chap” Wyoming’s accented voice came through the speakers now, steady as always. “North, CT make sure you get your guy alive just in case.” Carolina’s voice was its usual stern tone, but North could feel the flinch he was repressing at her comment. He could only hope that things wouldn’t come to a hostage exchange.

“North, CT you engage first. Capture your target and bring them to the rendezvous. We will interrogate them there. Everyone else hold back we still don’t know how many people are here. We don’t want to bring an entire army onto us if we can help it.” Carolina’s voice was on the fringe of being overrun with static again. Just like how it was before Wash and Maine lost contact.

North and CT shared a glance before CT sent their confirmation over the radio again. The entire encounter had left the two shaken but North took a breath. He could return to his roost with his riffle when this entire thing was over, but for now he had a hostage to take and a rookie to scold when things cooled down.

“Acknowledged Carolina. We are engaging now” CT answered as they both held their weapons at the ready. One more breath and they were bursting into the room where the brown soldier was, weapons trained on them.

**“It’s about time! How long does it take to rewire an armorlock unit?”**

Shit! The man was speaking Spanish. North hadn’t heard Spanish since his sophomore year of high school. A glance at CT showed that she hadn’t understood him either. The person’s voice was distinctly masculine and seemed to have an older speaker hooked to his radio. It gave his voice a metallic twang. North and CT approached the person, slowly, keeping their guns trained on the man. When CT sent a glance in his direction North realized he would have to be the one to give the commands, he had the most experience talking to prisoners and negotiating.

“Turn slowly and lower your tools.” North spoke clearly and loudly. “We have you surrounded. Come quietly and we will not harm you.” The man did turn around but as he put his tools down and turned towards them, he moved to stand.

**“Who are you? Why are you in here?”** North could take a good guess at what the man was asking. Most people wanted to know who was pointing a gun at them and why said person was there in the first place. Although the man’s voice wasn’t worried nor angry like North would have expected from someone being held at gunpoint.

“We are Freelancer agents here to investigate the sudden silence of this base. Raise your hands above your head and identify yourself.” North was unsettled. Something didn’t feel right. The man wasn’t moving like someone concerned with his own safety and he was giving no indication of being able to understand them. The static was still loud in his ears. He was very aware of the fact that the others could probably only hear every fourth word he said and nothing of what this man said. Not to mention that they would be on their own to

**I am Puerto Ricco the Heavy here to fix the malfunctioning training room. If you come much closer you will trigger Mont’s morning routine.”** The man, Peter Rico, stated. He didn’t raise his hands. North shared a glance with CT.

CT moved to call the rest of the team. They would need backup. If Mass had been right and he was one of the two people to take out Bravo then they might be in trouble if this guy decided to give them problems. “We have captured the one called Rico.” CT informed the others. North could hear her clearer than before but there was still some distorted static. “Requesting back up to transport him.”

All they got in response was static. CT began to repeat her message and North stepped forward raising his gun to place it in the MAG-strip behind his back when Peter jerked suddenly and took two rapid steps back.

**“Do not come any closer or you will start Montana’s simulation.”** _Now_ he was concerned. What did he mean ‘mountain’s simulation?’ Hey Asshole, speak English or shut up. CT was clearly getting nervous too. With no response from the others through the chaotic static North was inclined to agree with her. North continues to raise his rifle and picked up the hand cuffs when Peter let out one more cry before shit hit the fan.

**“Put that down before you start a simulation!”**

Suddenly lights began to flash and sirens began to blare. The door behind them started to close as smoke began to fill the room. What was going on?!?

**“Shit.”**

That North understood, it was the only Spanish South used for years after they had taken lessons, and he couldn’t help but agree **. “You idiots started Montana’s warm up drills!”** Peter called out angrily. Suddenly the lights started flickering on and off. North and CT started to back into each other to watch the other’s back.

It was in between the flashing lights that everything truly began to fly off the handle. As the lights flickered back on North and CT found themselves surrounded by dozens of troopers dressed in Gold. Wielding different weapons varying from medieval maces and spears to modern guns.

CT and North opened fire.

“Where did all these guys come from? Come-in anyone we need back up we are surrounded and need back up now!” CT called out as North began to reload his weapon. They never seem ed to go down. And those weapons were real! North had been grazed by one of the maces and it left a dent in his armor.

**“Stop shooting and let me turn it off.”** Peter called from behind them. Probably giving orders to his underlings. CT suddenly let out a curse her gun had jammed. North moved to cover her so she could fix it when he felt something hard connect with his helmet. As North collapsed on top of CT with a grunt all he could hear was Peter let out one last insult before he blacked out.

**“Idiots.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How is that for chaotic!!! Next time we find out how the Blue Team's recon and recovery group reacts to this development!!!


	4. Things go South

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> South and Florida make contact. The title is self explanatory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to Jade who helped me get through South's interactions

They had lost contact with North and CT.

South had to be held down by Florida when the shouting had first started over the radio. They could not hear much more than the tone of their voices over the static. He had nearly lost his grip when North had cried out the first time. His voice, some alarms and shouting could be heard over the static but since they hadn’t called in back up, they couldn’t move. Florida had completely lost his grip on her when they stopped hearing bullets and only heard static.

By the time Florida had recovered from South digging her elbow into his gut she was already confronting the two crimson soldiers with guns pointed to their heads. South was angry and she wasn’t going to back down any time soon. Florida let out a sigh and tried to contact the others. No dice. It was all static. With a curse Florida turned his coms off completely. They wouldn’t be able to bail them out even if they could reach any of the others. There was no reason to worry the others.

“Alright Asshats what did you do with the others?” And there went any hope of grabbing South before they realized they were there. Florida meandered into the room as South made her demands.

“Now hold on little lady.” Oh, no this motherfucking son of a bitch did _not_ just go there. The man in crimson they had seen before turned to look directly at South. His arms were raised but his tools were still in his hands. “What’r-” South cut the man off with a sharp jab of her gun into his visor.

“Shut the fuck up old man! Both of you put your tools down and, you in the burgundy tell me what you did to the others.” South’s demand was punctuated with another jab of her gun.

“Look, Darlin’ nobody is going to order me around in my own base of operations. Now what in Sam Hill are you talking about?” The man’s accent was coated in stubbornness and he crossed his arms, his tools still in his hands. Florida let out a sigh the man was, apparently, not going to back down to South.

South apparently realized the same thing since she let out a growl that was more animal than human. The heat of her glare from behind her visor was enough to be felt by people that didn’t know her because the burgundy man cringed and flinched. “Shut the hell up and drop what is in your hands.”

“Ummm. I ughhh.” The burgundy man stuttered. Not one coherent word left his mouth as the burgundy soldier fumbled to drop his screwdriver. South was angry and this man’s blathering was only making it worse. The crimson man’s arm raised to stop his associate from dropping what was in his other hand. “Son, don’t drop the sold-”

South lost her very short temper then and there. “Shut the fucking hell up and drop your fucking tools you sons of bitches before I put more holes in the both of you motherfuckers than swiss fucking cheese!” The woman had apparently lost it in her anger, as she brandished her gun again. The burgundy man dropped the rod with a yelp.

Florida let out a long-suffering sigh it looked like he would have to play nursemaid to another one of South’s tantrums. Where was North when you needed him? Florida had wanted to take care of the interrogation. He had even brought his interrogation kit on the mission in case things had gotten messy. He had left his tools back at the ship because he hadn’t thought that any interrogation would happen on the field and his field kit was on the Mother of Invention under repair. With one more sigh Florida took a step closer to South. He better try and rein her in or she would kill their hostages before they spilled their guts.

“Now, young ma’am, how about you give them a moment to answer you before you scratch that itchy trigger finger.” That was a good start, maybe it wouldn’t end in a big mess he would have to clean up. “Shut the fuck up old man.” Or maybe not.

“Now back up.” The burgundy man did. Backing up until he hit the table they had been working at. The device they had been working on wobbled. “Now, what have you done with the others?” South took one step closer to the man in crimson, stepping over the tools that the man had dropped.

“Look darlin, calm down. You can’t just come in here, wave around a dinky pistol, and make ridiculous demands without clarifying anything.” The man in red spoke, stepping in front of the burgundy man, his southern twang was clear but instead of the angry and stiff drawl it held before it still held a tense and dissaproved undertone but the man was trying to be gentle, or as close to gentle as a six-foot-seven man in power armor could be. “Who are you and who are you looking for?”

The man in burgundy was cowering behind the other. It almost looked like he was reaching for something. Florida picked up the screwdriver the burgundy man had dropped before and threw it at his hand. The man let out another yelp as the screwdriver left a dent in his gloves plating. The machine rocked again, as the man’s hand collided with it, nearly tipping over. Both men jerked, the burgundy man moving to grab the machine and the crimson man moving to cover his compatriot.

“Well, look at that. You better answer my angry friend here. That is unless you want me to imbed this doohickey into your vison, friend.” Florida reached to grab the metal rod that the burgundy mad had dropped.

“NO, WAIT!” The burgundy man cried out as Florida’s Kevlar glove gripped the metallic tool.

And Florida’s scream was loud enough to be heard through South’s commlink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Florida probably should have recognized a soldering iron when he saw it and that is a specially made soldering iron that can melt hear resistant fabric like Kevlar. Don't worry Florida is going to be alright.  
> Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon.
> 
> Let me know how I'm doing!


	5. Hell Breaks Loose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six of ten Freelancers have encountered mysterious new soldiers. Three of five teams have lost contact with the others. Let's see how York and Wyoming fair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a lot of fun to write. Thanks again to Jade for dealing with my random questions.

Maine and Wash were unaccounted for.

North and CT were gone.

South and Florida weren’t responding, hadn’t responded since they had heard South let out a curse when they had heard North scream.

And that left York and Wyoming on edge.

It had taken a minuet for York to calm down when they had lost contact with Wash and Maine. They were on high alert when they had heard the sirens coming through North and CT’s coms and when Florida’s cry had been cut off with static, they had stopped in their tracks to try and reestablish communication with anyone.

“Can anyone hear me?” York’s voice was tense and concerned. If Wyoming cared enough he probably would have tried to calm him down so that he wouldn’t make himself sick from pushing himself.

“I- ad- u- Ork.” The voice was splotchy, but Texas’s voice was unmistakable. “We read you Agent York.” Carolina spoke much clearer than Texas. “Have you found Wash and Maine?” Her voice was the same neutral it had been the entire mission, but it held an undercurrent of tension. “No, we are still in rout but we have lost contact with the other teams.” Wyoming answered it sounded like the static was starting to lessen with how clear Carolina was.

“-AT I- OING -ON!” Scratch that, Texas’ voice was garbled and nearly lost in the static. From what they could hear Texas didn’t sound happy at all. Her angry tones were tinged with concern and confusion. York and Wyoming would have been surprised by her concern, if they could head anything over the ringing in their ears from her screaming at them over the static. Wyoming would bet that she hadn’t heard any of the transmissions since they had separated in the beginning.

“We have lost contact with everyone else!” Oh dear, York was not doing so well his form was hunched over and his breathing was uneven. Maybe he should not have gone on this mission after all. He _had_ just returned from a long stint in the medical ward after having shrapnel removed from his body. Oh well, there was nothing Wyoming could do about it.

“Are- ow- ight?” Texas’ voice was nearly drowned out in the static, which was strange for how clear Carolinas’ voice was. “We are fine Texas. York just needs a breather before we find the others. It will give us a chance to get our bearings of this place.” Wyoming answered. Better not test the woman’s wrath, he was still on thin ice after he and Maine hurt York the first time. He and Maine had sworn to never talk about that confrontation they had with the newest freelancer, but they were still walking on eggshells after that interaction in the medbay hallway.

“Confirmed, Agent Wyoming, if York is still struggling after fifteen minutes have him return to the pelican. Agent Texas and I found their control center and we are going deeper. We will be radio silent. After you get Washington out of whatever mess he has gotten himself and Maine into investigate North and CT disappearance. Have the other two check on South and Florida.” Carolina’s voice was prompt and stiff in her orders. Wyoming watched as York slumped against the canyon wall, apparently grateful for the chance at a breather. “Confirmed Carolina.” Wyoming responded.

Wyoming leaned against the against an outcropping of brightly colored rocks as York sat down properly. It took a few minutes for York’s breathing to return to normal and several more before he was able to sit up properly. “I’m good now Wy.” York’s voice was breathless, but he did sound better. “Just give me a few more minutes and I’ll be good to go.” They spent the next minute in silence Wyoming checked his coms. Still no news from any of the others. “I have been to a few SIM bases but never one as strange as this. Why was there a crib and baby books in the Blue base? What was up with those cages and bowls? What are these rocks painted and sorted and what is up with that construction cone in the middle of this stack?

York patted the orange cone in question for emphasis. Wyoming couldn’t help but agree, this base was very unusual. There had been evidence of life other than soldiers that had made it through basic training in the form of half made beds, dishes in the sink, band posters on the walls, and most curiously toys and crayons spread around the floor. It was as if the base was housing two teenagers, a toddler, and a baby.

“OH, I know that answer!!!! Pick me I know!!!!” The cerulean soldier was back. And just as excited as the last time they had seen him. Fortunately, it looked like he was open to share info again. “Umm. Ok, why-?” York was cut of by the cerulean soldier’s cheers as he danced around the pair. Wyoming gripped his weapon tighter but didn’t move to aim at the man, yet.

“The rocks are there because I stacked them, they are different colors so that we can tell our rocks apart.” York looked at the large man confused as he stood next to the pile that matched his armor. “You see this is my pile and you are sitting on Salami’s pile and that is his lucky cone. And you are sitting on Virgin’s special rock nobody is supposed to touch.

“Oh, for the love of. Mass, my name is not Virgin, that is just what- who the- are you two?” Another unknown soldier in turquoise armor walked into the alcove they were resting in. He looked from Mass to York to Wyoming and back again before he slowly moved to stand in front of Mass. “Mass who are these two?”

“These are the people I found earlier outside the canyon. Have you found any new friends yet?” The turquoise man glanced back at Mass, “And what are their names Mass? If you know them then they must have introduced themselves then? Right Mass, you did ask for their names?” The turquoise man’s voice was exacerbated and tense, as if finding people hiding in a canyon in the middle of nowhere was a common occurrence for them. Mass hesitated for a second before he disappeared again. “Umm,” And he was behing York, nearly startling him to the ground. “Well this is Mr. Uhh Wales.” Mass patted York’s back in what must have been a comforting pat but nearly sent him to the ground. York could hear Wyoming’s snickering, whether or not it was because of the name or because he had nearly been thrown to the ground by a pat, he wasn’t sure.

Mass then moved near Wyoming, he waved in his direction “And this is Mr. Fancy Umm. Voice.” Mass did not disappoint with the names. York let out a snort at that statement. He was _not_ going to drop that any time soon.

“He’s right I’m Wales and that is my associate, but we just call him F. U. V.” York moved to stand to his full height, he had recovered enough to help Wyoming with these two, he still had a pair of MAG-cuffs, maybe he could convince Mass that they were friendship bracelets and bring him to the pelican without a fuss.

Suddenly their comms came alive, the static was nearly deafening in their ears before either agents could turn it off they heard Florida’s scream, then silence.

York and Wyoming were frozen for a beat or two, just long enough to put the turquoise man on edge. York’s mind raced; it was clear neither of the men had heard the scream. Ok, maybe tis could be salvaged. South was still with Florida; she could handle the situation until they got to them. York could distract these two, probably convince Mass to handcuff himself to his friend and go and bail out the Rookie and Maine while Wyoming went to South and Florida. Ok he could do this.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!!!!!!!!” Or maybe not.

York turned his head enough to see Wyoming had grabbed Mass and had his gun pointed at his helmet. “It’s nothing personal, but our time-table has moved up. We only need one of you alive, preferably someone not a gormless twit daft out of his wits. Suddenly Wyoming was not standing where he had been a second ago. “What?” York jerked as he struggled to look at the white and blue-green blurs wrestling on the ground with his single eye.

“What the hell are you talking about? What just happened?” The turquoise man had managed to pin Wyoming. “I’m talking about my partner’s scream he just broadcasted across the airwaves. What did you wanker’s do?” Wyoming had managed to flip the two so that they were rolling across the grass again

“Look Asshole I don’t know what you are talking about. But it’s not Mass’s fault you can’t please your partner well enough then maybe you shouldn’t be so angry when they find someone who can.” The turquoise man was on top of Wyoming again. “Bow-Chicka-OW!” and Wyoming had managed to knock him off with a punch to the gut.

“Lazy Sod! Help me!” and that was York’s cue to help him capture the guy. York grabbed the MAG-cuffs as Wyoming had the other guy pinned. It looked like it would work. It was a shame about the other guy, but Wyoming was right. They couldn’t handle both of them with one pair of cuffs and one of them acting so ornery.

“Mass, you play with the other guy while I handle this dufus!” Wait, What? York found himself being thrown away from the pair. He had just been tackled from his blind spot. York struggled to shift so that he could see his azure opponent. Then there was a click.

York looked down towards his hands. “How is that physically possible?” York had somehow handcuffed himself in the scuffle. “Ohh, I’ve done that before! VIRG LOOK THIS GUY DID THE THING WITH THE CUFFS TOO!!!!!” Mass stood over York for a minuet before he picked him up by the cuffs. To brandish his cuffed arms towards the wrestling pairs. “That’s good Mass, make sure that he stays like that until I’m done with this dufus.” The, newly dubbed Virg, called out managing to pin Wyoming again.

York let out a sigh, this was going to take a while. He really hoped the others would be alright for a while longer because back up was currently occupied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eight down and two to go. Next time Carolina and Tex make contact.  
> Let me know How I am doing!  
> -Spazz


	6. Things go FUBAR

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carolina and Texas have descended into the bowels of the base, they have been steadily losing contact with their teammates but they push on. Will they finally fond the answers to the missing Bravo Team?  
> Read this and Find out!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a lot of fun to write! I think this is my longest chapter yet!!! As always let me know if you like it or how I can to improve things!

**Chapter 6: Things go FUBAR**

“Confirmed Carolina”

That was the last transmission Carolina heard before she returned to her own mission. She let out an uneasy sigh. Things weren’t looking good. They had lost contact with the three other teams and York was struggling to keep up with Wyoming. She shouldn’t have let York on this mission so soon. He still needed to heal from his injuries.

“What’s up” And there was another reason for her unease. Agent Texas’ commlink had been a bigger mess than everyone else’s, she had been constantly asking for updates on the others and her own transmissions had been distorted and garbled even as she stood next to Carolina. That meant Carolina had to play telephone in between transmission.

“York and Wyoming are going back to the pelican. York isn’t keeping up well with Wyoming.” On the upside it meant that Carolina could control what information Texas had. Not that it did her much good when she was pulling the concerned teammate routine. Texas had been spending their entire trek through the underground tunnels trying to contact everyone and anyone.

Texas let out a sigh. “I told him he wasn’t ready for a mission as soon as he got out of the medbay.” At least there was something that they could agree with. Not that Carolina would ever admit that. “I told them that we would be on radio silence. The sooner we get to the bottom of this the sooner we can meet back up with the others.” Agent Texas looked at her for a minuet as if she was considering her next move. Then she moved and turned off her radio.

“Alright, I’ll follow your lead Carolina.” Texas’ voice was gentle, like she understood Carolina’s orders and was trying to open up to her. Right, like she was going to fall for that. Carolina nodded, she still needed to work with Texas until they could confirm the woman was a spy for the insurgence. “Let’s keep moving, we have checked out almost every level. Once we find a working terminal we can find the others.”

This entire place had been eerie, most of the lights had been out or broken on the upper floors. All the computers they had seen on their way down had been broken beyond repair. Signs of fires singed the floor and the walls. There had even been holes in the floor and dents in the plaiting as if some giant, fire breathing, creature had torn the place up. It reminded Carolina of an old monster movie York had made her watch.

They descended down another two levels before they started finding signs of life. The hallways were illuminated better and it looked like the rooms were in the process of being repaired. That was when they detected the first signs of someone being down there with them

“Just make it happen.” The soft voice came from the vents.

Texas and Carolina were beside the vents the minuet they heard it. They pressed closer to the walls in the hopes of catch more of the conversation.

“-know it is late, but you know our situation and we informed you before-” The voice was softer this time. Apparently, they had been yelling a minuet ago. Carolina gave Texas a signal to continue down the hall. With any luck they could catch this guy off guard. They lost the voice until they made it down to the bottom level. As soon as they entered the final level they heard the voice again.

“We need to keep that territory or we may lose the system all together.” The muted voice was louder, but it was still hard to distinguish the age and gender of the person speaking.

“It sounds like Bravo my have been taken out by a smuggling ring.” Carolina spoke out loud. The talk of territories and deliveries it made sense for a pirates or smuggling rings to want to take an outpost in the middle of nowhere. The SIM bases provided a place to store goods and refuel ships. It was the reason that the UNSC had been alright with them placing dozens of SIM bases across the galaxy. Afterall if there were paranoid soldiers convinced of an incoming enemy invasion then any pirates or drug cartels looking to make a base in the cosmos had to go through a trained, if stupid, army to claim the few habitable but not colonized planets left. Freelancer agents had been sent to deal with groups like them in the past, but this would be the first time that a base had been completely overrun with no alerts from the base.

Texas visibly tensed at Carolina’s observation. The evidence of a fight in the upper layers and the lack of life they had seen through the canyon fresh in their minds. This group was very formidable if they could take over an entire base in the span of a few weeks. The only attack that had come close to taking over a SIM base had lasted a month and had taken Wyoming and Florida a week to clean up after. They could only hope that the others could hold their own if they came upon this group.

They stuck close to the walls as they reached the next set of stairs. This flight lead all the way down to the bottom level. Carolina signaled for Texas to stay close as they moved through the door. The voice was much louder now shouting at the whoever they were talking to. Carolina checked her comms. No luck it was all static down here. How was this person able to make a call twenty stories underground?

Carolina and Texas could not hear the conversation any longer, but they were close. Carolina signaled for Texas to go into camouflage mode as she activated her own chameleon mode. Blending in against the greys of the hallways. They would have to be quick, with York out of commission and Wyoming trying to bail the others out they could not afford for this person to trigger an alarm and alert this ring to more agents on the premises.

They were getting close. The last room on the floor had a glass door that allowed light from the room to stream through. It was time for them to move. As they approached the glass door Carolina saw that the room was some kind of meeting room. It held a large holographic table and several terminals for work or personalized planning. There were a dozen chairs set up around the table, each colored, probably to identify a member of Bravo. A glass screen was at the other end of the room, probably used for hollow calls or maybe it had held the leaderboard rankings for Bravo. There were also filing cabinets that lined one of the walls. A figure was walking towards the table with a file in their hands, flipping through its contents.

“Look we informed you of our issues a month ago, you knew what was going on when we went silent, we haven’t changed from our usual schedule. If you don’t get this shipment out by the end of this week, then we might end up losing people. If that happens _you_ will be looking for another patron.”

They were practically pressed to the door now, looking in at the person threatening their provider through their, what even was that? It looked like two bells connected with a rod and it had a cord that connected to a terminal in the middle of the table she was working at. Another period of silence followed as the person listened to the other side. Carolina moved closer to take in the person’s appearance.

Their smuggler was a woman, shorter than even CT’s short 5’10” stature. She was dressed in a dark tight-fitting tank top and jeans; combat boots were on her feet. That combined with the athletic tape on her arms and shoulders, provided an image of something you would see in a cheesy action movie, not something you saw every day in space.

Carolina considered the woman carefully. Her tanned skin could indicate that she was associated with one of the rings linked to the Pacific Cartels but her slim fit could indicate she was operating out of the Vegas quadrant, Carolina had heard that some of the dancers and performers were recruited because they were often underestimated by the police. The woman’s curly ebony hair was loose and fell to the middle of her back. That could rule out any association with the ME syndicate, they had woman working for them cut their hair short to prevent any dirty fighting if they were caught. The woman shifted again allowing for them to catch a bit of her face as she moved around the large conference table to grab a notepad and write down whatever the person was telling her. She still had the strange device with its long, curling cord held up to her ear. Carolina gave a signal to Texas to be ready, they would wait for the woman to end her call or they may alert the person on the other side that they were onto them.

“Alright one day late that is all, if you are later than that then you will have to deal with me.” The woman was silent for a minuet longer as she wrote down on the notepad one more time before she smiled. “Thanks, I’ll let them know. Say hello to the kids for me.” The woman placed the device onto the table and gathered the papers she had spread across the table. Her hair acting as a curtain, shading her face from view. The sounds of her steps were the only sound on the floor for a minuet as Carolina readied her weapon. As soon as they had taken care of this pirate then she could find the others and get back to York.

The woman let out a sigh before she moved to the door. She stood in front of the glass for a beat, arms crossed. Finally, she moved her hair out of her face, revealing an ageless face that could have been eighteen years old or forty-eight. What the woman spoke next froze Carolina in place.

“Well, aren’t you two going to say hello?”

Carolina’s blood turned to ice as she stared at the woman. She could see them? How was that possible, she didn’t have any kind of gear that would let her see their heat signatures or anything? The woman still stood in front of the pair, arms crossed and a faint curve of her lip as she gazed at the two frozen agents.

That was when _it_ happened.

Carolina’s com screeched in her ear, she could hear shouting, screaming, and bullets, Florida’s scream echoed and as she recovered from that onslaught, she could hear York cry out in shock and pain. Carolina had bitten her tongue to prevent herself from screaming out.

“Carolina, are you alright? Texas questioned moving to her side, as if they didn’t have a hostile opponent standing three feet away from them.” How could she ask that? Everyone was in trouble and she was stuck down here making small talk with a smuggler and a traitor. Carolina flashed a glare towards Texas, she would deal with the traitor later, she had a smuggler to take down.

Carolina pounced.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Carolina had the smuggler pinned in a choke hold; the glass had shattered around them from Carolina’s impact. The woman was looking wide-eyed at Carolina’s visor, clearly not expecting the attack. Good, now she just needed to choke the woman into unconsciousness, handcuff her and find the others.

“Carolina! What the HELL are you doing?” Texas shouted at her, apparently stunned by the sudden attack. The woman was motionless as Carolina gripped her throat. They didn’t have time for this. “I’m taking out an enemy combatant. Now cuff her and we can drag her back to the ship for questioning.” Carolina growled as she tightened her grip onto the woman. This time the woman reacted. Gripping Carolina’s hands that encircled her throat, she managed to speak even with Carolina cutting off her oxygen supply.

“Look, I enjoy being mounted by a hot amazon as much as the next person but if you aren’t going to choke me like you mean it then Get Off!” Carolina was suddenly bucked off the woman. She rolled into a crouch, pulling her gun out of the holster and aiming it at the smuggler.

Carolina was unsurprised to find Texas was standing in front of the woman arms raised. The action was probably to placate Carolina but only gave the impression of a bear about to attack. “Look Carolina calm down and let’s talk-” Carolina cut Tex off with a growl as she moved to tackle her. The woman behind the two Freelancers let out a surprised yelp as as they both almost crashed into her.

Carolina and Texas rolled around the ground for a minute. Both were oblivious of the machinery powering up around them as they tried to subdue each other. Finally, Texas managed to throw Carolina off her and grab her own weapon. “Cali are you alright?” Texas called out as she kept her visor locked with Carolina, neither moving. At least Carolina had an answer to who Texas was spying for.

“Are you kidding me? I’m watching two hot chicks fight right in front of me! The only way I could be better was if you were fighting Spartan style!” The woman from before, apparently named Cali, called from behind the table. “Cali.” Texas’ voice was warning. “Yes, I’m alright, Tex, nothing a few bandages and half an hour with Doc can’t fix.” Cali called out, almost like a child sassing an older sibling after they had been told off.

“Cali, I want you to call the others and tell them that Me and my team are here and that-” Texas was cut off by Carolina again. This time they ran into the screen, which was apparently not a screen at all but a viewing window into a training room three stories down. Texas and Carolina had managed leave a crater in the ground as they separated. The lights turned on as they moved to stand.

Carolina took an offensive position. “No time like the present to take out a spy.” Carolina muttered. Her helmet display was warning her of potential injuries she may have sustained from her multiple collisions. Texas took a defensive position, giving no indication that falling three stories had fazed he in the slightest. Texas stood between Carolina and Cali. “Carolina, listen to me they-” Carolina cut Texas off with a barrage of bullets. Carolina didn’t have time for excuses. She needed to end this fast, if Cali made that call and informed the others, who knows how long the others would last?

“Tex!” Cali called out concern in her voice as Texas dodged the bullets from Carolina’s gun. “I’m alright, just make the call over the intercom.” Texas ordered. Carolina growled. There was no time for this! She had to stop that bitch.

“Carolina, calm down, Cali isn’t an enemy she is.” Suddenly there was a surge of electricity that threw the two off their feet. The lights intensified and Carolina could hear Cali cry out as the room shook. Carolina groaned as she collided with the wall. Texas managed to remain standing through the entire thing. Of, course she did.

Carolina tried to stand. She would not lose to this Texas, special case or not.

Nothing happened.

Carolina tried again. This time with her legs.

Nothing moved.

Carolina took a breth trying to keep her cool. This time she moved her fingers and toes. The moved a bit, but her armor didn’t allow for more than a few nanometers of motion.

**Shit**

Armor lock was engaged

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

The good news, Carolina wasn’t attacking.

The bad news, Texas was stuck in armorlock.

The worse news, everyone that had come from the Mother of Invention was wearing armor with armorlock capabilities. Even 479er. If this was an AL unit that Mont and Vern had been working on then there was a good chance that the entire planet had been affected by it.

The better news, if armorlock was engaged than there was a good chance that any fighting happening had stopped when all combatants were frozen.

The best news, Cali wasn’t wearing armor and hadn’t left the room to make the call yet.

“Is everyone alright?” Cali seemed to have recovered and she sounded close. Tex let out a sign, she would have to try and talk to Cali about following orders in situations like this.

After she got Cali to turn off the armor lock.

“We’re fine, but we are stuck, someone engaged armorlock and we can’t move. Tex answered before Carolina could. No need to make the situation worse by starting an insult competition. “That isn’t good. Vern and Mont were working on that in Blue base, if it is affecting you all the way down here than it probably is affecting the entire gulch. VIC, are you back online?” Cali called out. Tex could practically feel Carolina’s anger coming through her visor. “Hell- llo, Age- Cali- do you read me?” A voice came from the speakers and echoed around the testing room. Tex could feel her body relax even if her armor didn’t. VIC could help solve the problem much faster than Cali could alone. “VIC do are you operational?” Cali called out again. Tex could hear Cali as she worked on the terminal next to the window. “Yello, Agent Cali I read you loud and clear, dudette, what can I do for you today?” VIC’s voice came through the speaker’s crystal clear this time. “VIC, thanks I was wondering if you could give me an update on everyone, Tex says her team is here and that armor lock is engaged. How bad is it?”

“Well dudette it looks things have gone FUBAR. Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition. We have Ham running donuts in a runaway hog with a plated in the trunk and pearl on the hood. Pinkie pie is chilling like a villain watching the whole thing go down.” VIC started. “D2 is running Monty’s sunrise while a bronze chick and plum dude doze. Next up we have Mountains and Valleys in the river craft shop with a betty in lilac pointing a gnarly looking bang at Stringbean while a river dude grips a hot rod in his hand. And then Colossus and Ripley are in the playground tussling with some chrome dome and britt git. Virg has managed to mount the pony.”

Everyone was silent for a beat. Taking in VIC’s report.

“What the HELL does that mean?” Carolina sounded like she was ready to busrt out of her armor and start attacking people in just her under suit.

“It means Ham is stuck going in circles in a jeep with no breaks. He has a guy in white stuck in the back and a grey guy on front. Penny is frozen on the side. Ricco is in the training room trying to turn off Mont’s morning workout but a girl in brown and guy in purple are unconscious. Mont and Vern are in the blue workshop with some chick in purple pointing a gun at Vern and a guy in blue is stuck with a soldering iron in his hand. Mass and Virg are in the rock outcroppings with some guy in yellow and a dude with a British accent. Virg is on top of the British dude.” Cali answered. She had moved down the stairs and was approaching the two squaring off Freelancers.

“VIC if I remove Tex’s helmet will she be able to move, or do I have to fix the AL unit for everyone to go back to normal?” VIC was silent for a moment before they got a response. “It looks like the doohickey is the only way to unfreeze everyone.” Cali let out a sigh before she walked over to Carolina. Cali began to remove every weapon Carolina had on her, every gun, knife, and anything that could be used as a weapon. “Ok, can you use the speakers to inform everyone what is going on. I’ll be by soon to get everyone is a safer position before I turn armorlock off. And maybe get in contact with Sheila to call MOI. I don’t think anybody is going to listen to us if we don’t get in contact with them.”

Cali had removed every weapon from Carolina’s body and had moved to place them in the storage lockers under the staircase. “Ten-Four dudette I will relay.” “And if you can do you think you could at least use puppet protocol to get the people in Blue base to come here? It would save time if I didn’t have to rescue everyone.” The only acknowledgement that Cali got was the lights flashing on an off. Tex sighed at least everything would be sorted soon. Cali and VIC would get everyone in one place and finally they could all explain what happened.

Things were still ridiculous but a least they were getting to a manageable ridiculous.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

**Bonus:** Here is what was supposed to happen, but I wanted to write a full fight scene.

Carolina pounced.

**_Thump_ **

Carolina had moved to break through the glass and tackle the woman standing in the middle of the meeting room but the glass hadn’t given away. Carolina collided with the glass door like a bird collided with a window. Carolina was dazed for a moment, falling back onto the ground. Her helmet had cushioned a bit of the impact but she was still seeing stars for crashing face first into the glass wall

“What’s with her?” The smuggler woman spoke, opening the door and allowing for Texas to carry the dazed Carolina into the room and gently place her in a teal chair. “I have no fucking clue; everyone has been freaking out since this mission began and my comms have been nothing but static since we got here.”

“Well your coms are shit because we are still getting interference from the solar storm, every radio is out, why do you think I was using the land line? It should clear up in…” The woman checked the watched on her wrist. “One minuet ago. Maybe that’s what made her jump? All that static feedback would have anybody jumping if they aren’t expecting it. Everyone on the base left their comms in their rooms today because of it. Poor thing, we managed to almost Mass proof the glass last week. Nothing short of Mass running head-first into this baby is going to crack it.”

Texas had removed her own helmet allowing for blond hair and blue-green eyes to inspect Carolina herself. “Tex can you grab the medkit on the top of the file cabinet it should have something to check for a concussion.” The woman asked as she moved in front of Carolina and started to work on removing her armor. Carolina looked at the woman as she removed Carolina’s helmet and accepted the offered medkit. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” she managed to demand through the stars in her vision. This woman may be acting gentle as she played nurse, but Carolina wasn’t going to fall for any tricks. “I’m California, I work on this base with the rest of Bravo team, you must be Carolina, Tex has mentioned you and your team in her transmissions.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like it? We are coming close to the end of this story. Hopefully there will be more interactions between this group and the MOIF.  
> -Spazz


	7. SNAFU: Situation Normal All Fucked Up Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Situation Normal: ALL FUCKED UP Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't want to post this one at a time but I'm stuck so I'm going to post what I have and write the rest as soon as I figure out how to write it.  
> There should be one or two chapters left after this one.

**Chapter 7: SNAFU Part 1  
**

Even with VIC using the puppet protocol to move everyone’s armor, it took a while for everyone to gather into the testing room. Cali had to rescue Washington and Maine from the warthog before she wrestled the controls out of Ham’s frozen fingers and crash the vehicle into a bolder to get the warthog to stop. Then She had to find a working mongoose and take it out to the pelican to get 479er, who had also been caught in the blast. Cali also had to grab Vern’s tools from red base and the busted AL unit from the workshop so that she could disable armorlock.

Tex was relieved that South’s speaker had gone out from being to so close to the blast or else she probably would have started something with Cali when she started taking everyone’s weapons and storing them away.

Tex understood _why_ Cali was taking everyone’s weapons, it sounded like everyone had been in the middle of a fight when the portable AL unit had gone off. Cali had gone as far as to get the vacuum and clean up the shattered glass on the floor and had even put away all the tools except for the pliers and soldering iron she held in her hands. It would be better for everyone if there weren’t any pointy weapons in arms reach when everyone got their motor functions back.

“Alright, I’m almost done. I just need to finish with this last wire, and we should be good to go.” Cali announced with a grin, quickly followed by a short buzz of excitement.

Tex looked at the audience across from her. Carolina was still across from her, poised to attack. To her right was York, wearing his own MAG-cuffs, his body language seemed to be embarrassed, he must have been the one facing off against Mass. Maine was leaning against York, it sounded like he had tried to stop the warthog by jumping onto the gunner position, trying to sending it toppling backwards. Unfortunately, since this canyon strived to Mass-proof everything it resulted in things like cars being, not quite Mass-proof, but definitely Maine-proof. Maine had been stuck like that for half an hour before Cali had gotten him off. Washington was laying on top of Maine, he had grumbled a few times when he had entered but it had mostly been about how much he hated cars.

Next to Maine and Washington were North and CT in a similar position. Cali had informed everyone that they weren’t as bad as they had looked. North had been hit with a ‘disorienting item’ which had rendered him unconscious for an hour. But he would be fine and there should be no side effects. CT had just been knocked into by North and then been subjected to the same item that had knocked North out.

Florida stood to Carolina’s left. He hadn’t moved from his position at all. Because of how close to the AL unit they had been; the puppet protocol hadn’t been able to take affect. Cali and VIC had been forced to carry everyone in blue base out one at a time and have Mass carry them down. Florida’s hand was pried open, but his glove was a mess. Apparently, he had grabbed Vern’s soldering iron by the iron, and it had melted his entire glove. Cali had removed the cool iron and taken a look at Florida’s hand, but she had declared that Doc should be the one to do anything further. South was tilted towards Tex her arms still in the same position they had been in when the AL had gone off. Apparently, she had shot the device when Florida had screamed and the ensuing shot had frozen 86% of the population.

479er sat cross-legged next to South, she had been mostly quiet since Cali had brought her in, just watching the young woman work.

Wyoming was the only one not in the line, he was laying in front of Tex in the with everyone pointed towards him. He was on his back while Virg straddled him. Virg’s fist was raised and it looked like he was going in for another hit when they had been froze.

Tex chanced a glance next to her. Montana was to her right; his hands had been pried open like Florida’s so that Cali could put the tools away. Somehow, he had been positioned partially in front of her so that it looked like he was covering her. Vern stood to his right. Positioned as if he was trying to catch something as it fell, probably the AL unit. Ham stood next to Vern. In all honesty Tex would bet that he had fallen asleep while Cali worked, and the others had woken him up so that he would be awake for the next encounter.

To her left stood Mass who had somehow gotten VIC to position him like he was about to fly off into the sunset. And straight into Florida. Next to him stood Ricco, and Penny who had been the last to enter the testing facility.

Everyone had been quiet as Cali had fixed the device and she could feel the tension as Cali declared the device finished.

“Ok, I am going to turn the device on, deactivating armorlock. I took all your weapons, so we are going to talk like adults. If that doesn’t happen then I will turn the device back on and we will start from the beginning again but this time I will cuff you to the broken as shit warthog. Got it?” Cali’s voice was playful, but it held a steel bite to it.

After no one responded Cali made her demands again. “Right? If not, I can just wait for DC to pick up and have them sort everything out?” That got a response from Tex’s side and a rather begrudging acceptance from Carolina’s. 

“Ok, activating now.” There was a brief moment where everyone sagged as they regained the use of their bodies, then a flurry of motion.

Tex felt Mont grab her by the arms and removed her helmet. He was looking her over a minute later. Out of the corner of her eye Tex could see Ham doing the same to Cali. Virg and Ricco were on her other side doing the same for Mass. Who had thankfully not launched into Florida but collapsed to the ground when Armorlock had been disengaged

There was a loud disruption coming from the others as South and Wyoming began to exchange threats, Maine threw Wash from his lap as he tried to stand up. Throwing Washington into the wall; there was a cry of pain from Washington and an alarmed grunt from Maine. CT and North were thrown to the side as South tried to check her brother’s vitals through his helmet. Carolina had grabbed York as he collapsed. Now she was trying to rip his helmet off without unlatching it. Tex was going to deny smiling at that later

“Ham, I’m fine! Tex was with me the whole time. Look her over because she was the one being shot at.” Cali had managed to brush Ham’s concerned fretting away and direct it towards Tex as she moved to look at the freelancers that had managed to fall into a confused pile.

“Well, would you all like to join us in the briefing room as we call Sheila or would you all like some more time to do, whatever it is you are doing?” Penny’s voice was the same way it had always been. Tex couldn’t help but notice that he had left his helmet on. Tex noticed Cali sign ‘Date Night’ out of the corner of her eyes. Well that answered that question.

Tex was herded up the stairs by Bravo as Penny, Ham, and Mont continued to fuss over her and Cali. “It’s good to have you home Tex, even with the circumstances.” Vern had rushed ahead to set up the call to the Mother of Invention, but she could still hear him clearly through the broken window. That was good, last time she had been here Vern hadn’t been able to look her in the eye after the shower head incident. If he was talking to her then hopefully, they would be past the embarrassment. “Sorry we didn’t call everything was kind of.” Ham trailed off as he collapsed into his seat. “Dead?” Cali offered as she brought a medkit from one of the cabinets. “Yea, dead, we had to reboot VIC last night and adjust everything, did you lose our signal?” Mont had taken a light and was checking her eyes as Virg spoke to her. He was checking Mass out this was the best time to check him for injuries before he finished his daydreaming. Once he was done, he would be a bundle of energy, concussion or not.

“No, you missed your check ins. The Counselor and Director were worried.” Everyone considered her for a moment. It was Mont that spoke first. “I bet it was Ham’s fault. Ham what did you do?” Cali stopped that line of questioning. “What are you talking about? I sent them an update about losing communications last month.” She glanced towards Ham. “You watched me send it didn’t you?” The two exchanged glances worry crossing Cali’s face and Ham’s visor. “Yea, it was in with the food and other supply request forms for the SIM bases in the fifth quadrant.”

That wasn’t good. If that quadrant hadn’t gotten supplies they needed, then they could be dealing with a very messy situation. Penny moved towards the door. “I’ll get Doc and make the call. Cali if they haven’t gotten the supplies than we may need to repeat the Dine-N-Dash Incident. Cali nodded. “Yea I’ll start looking up locations just in case. Hopefully they just missed the message and the fifth quadrant got the deliveries.”

“What’s in the fifth quadrant that is so important? All that should be out there are SIM bases.” And there was South with all the tact in the world. “You would be right, eleven SIM bases that were overdue for a supply drop.” Cali answered her not looking up from the terminal she was logged into. “SIM bases that will starve to death in the next week if they don’t get supplies in time.” Ham was the one that continued as he wheeled next to his sister, sharing info on a portable holo-display and helping her write things down.

“What does it matter, they are just SIM troopers.” Wyoming spoke this time. He was being supported by Florida. Tex would have smirked at his predicament, if what had come out of his mouth had been anything other than a war declaration. Tex glanced to the tense forms of Bravo as they ignored Alpha squad in favor of working diligently to plan an emergency supply drop for nearly a dozen bases and over five hundred people.

Tex could practically see the sneer forming through Wyoming’s visor. Alpha team wouldn’t like being ignored. This would get messy fast. Tex took a breath.

Time to watch her team’s back

“It matters because they are the group that coordinates most of the Simulation Soldier Operations, they practically are Command. They send shipments to the bases, make sure that everyone is able to survive the environments, send out equipment too be tested, and report Covenant movement in systems. The SIM bases they run are practically garrisons for colonies that haven’t been established yet.” Tex moved to stand in front of the group. Everyone had finished looking each other over for injuries and were all crowded around Cali’s terminal. Even Mass who had missed most of the conversation when Virg was checking him, was helping by grabbing color coded files for the others.

CT seemed to recover from the shocking announcement first. “You mean when the Director said that they knew-” Tex stopped her there, it would be best if they didn’t divulge everything that the others oversaw. Tex had seen how jealousy affected Alpha squad and she didn’t want any SIM bases to go under new management and fail because their new bosses didn’t care about them. “He meant that they practically run administration for the SIM bases.” That was good, it sounded boring and tedious enough to disinterest South and Carolina and difficult enough that Washington and York wouldn’t want to try it. Not to mention how much the entire Alpha squad hated paperwork. That would hopefully keep the others from trying.

Tex turned to Carolina, “That was my first clue that Bravo wasn’t missing. Cali organizes supply runs with the UNSC and farming colonies. She was talking to a provider when we caught her, not organizing a smuggling operation.” Although Cali could have been doing both. Cali had confided in her that she would contact smugglers when shipments were lost or attacked, because it meant shorter waiting periods for bases in need. Carolina didn’t look convinced.

“So-” “Good news everybody! Quadrant Five got the last of their shipments yesterday.” Tex had never been more thankful to Penny than at that moment. Tex wasn’t good at dodging questions or giving up half-truths, that was something Ham, Cali, and even Virg were better at doing than her. She was more of a go in and beat the problem into submission person.

Tex could practically hear everyone behind her relax at that announcement. “That’s a relief.” Vern announced. As Mass brought up a different colored folder and began to place the files that they had started working on. Montana labeled the file after one quick check and Mass put it away by pushing off of his wheelie chair and gliding over to the cabinet.

As Mass pushed back to his spot Tex watched as he managed to get the right angle to plow right into her. The crash had sent both to the floor. Mass looked at Tex for one confused second.

“AGENT TEXAS!!!!!! YOU ARE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Mass’ exuberant voice was followed by a proper tackle hug. Tex simply laid back for a moment and patted his head as he cuddled her. “Mass at least let her stand up so you can give her a proper hug. Virg’s exacerbated voice would have been scolding if he didn’t have a goofy grin on his face.

“OK!!!!!” Tex could feel Mass pick her up like a rag-doll as he stood up and gave her another bone-crushing hug. This time she could feel a few more, relatively smaller, arms join in.

There was a tapping coming from down the hall. Cali smiled as she moved to open the door. “Heads up, ankle-bitter and Doc incoming!” Cali called out just in time for a teal and yellow blur to come crashing into Tex’s open arms. “Blarg!”

Tex felt herself laugh ad TJ tried to burrow himself into her chest plate to get closer to her scent. He had done this dozens of times with all of them. Having their scents had helped calm him down. The ‘small but mighty’ shirt TJ was wearing was a good example. Cali had given it to him a while ago and he still wore it. Last time Tex had been at Blood Gulch she had left a t-shirt for TJ to use, she had left it in a pile with One of Mass’ old Spartan shirts that had been far too big for TJ to wear as a dress, an old towel Ham had owned and a pair of socks from Virg that TJ wouldn’t be able to grow into for a few more years.

There were gasps from across the room and Tex shifted just in time for a small knife to embed itself into her armor where TJ would have been if she hadn’t moved. Suddenly, all of Alpha squad was frozen again.

“I tried to warn you. I told you what would happen if you attacked anybody. C’mon buster you have a date with a jeep.” Cali, for all her petite, five foot nothing appearance had never looked more terrifying than when she stood behind a frozen Florida. Still positioned from throwing his hidden knife.

Cali grabbed the immobile Freelancer and dragged him out of the room. “Go ahead and call DC I’ll be back as soon as I’m done.” Tex would have felt sorry for the man; except she had to comfort a sobbing TJ who had been spooked by the sudden motion and sounds. Doc moved around the frozen Alpha squad to check over the baby as Virg joined her in comforting him, talking to TJ as she rocked him.

Tex always loved taking care of TJ, it made her nostalgic. Of what she could never remember but Bravo had never pushed her to remember just told her that all she needed was to enjoy it. Tex had often taken babysitting duty when she had come to Blood Gulch. It always left her with dreams of a tinny redheaded baby and an empty feeling in her chest when she had to hand over TJ, but she would never regret doing it.

That was when Sheila’s voice came over the loudspeaker.

“Hello Bravo, what can I do for you today?” Alpha team was now immobile and frozen in shock as ‘FILLIS’ began to speak over the intercom.

“SHEILA!!!!! HELLO!!!!!! YOU ARE HERE!!!! HAVE YOU MISSED ME!!!!! I HAVE MISSED YOU!!!!!!” Mass called out.

This time Tex did laugh, loud, long and hard. Some things never change.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

This was weird.

That was the only thought running through Wash’s mind on repeat as he continued to stare at the team that claimed to be Bravo. Bravo team, the indestructible, enhancement fixing, Texas hugging, terrifying, secretaries of Project Freelancer. Wash would not have believed it if it wasn’t for the fact that he had experienced it for himself.

In the span of a few hours he had failed a ‘how dirty is your mind’ test, become intimate with the hood of a jeep, met someone who had willingly called himself ‘Ham’ as they went in circles for nearly an hour, watched as Maine had been embedded in the trunk of the ‘warthog’ after he tried to rescue Wash, been peeled off of said car’s hood by a girl smaller than CT, had his armor controlled like Pinocchio, led into a basement that looked like something from the Alien franchise, launched into a wall by Maine.

And that was just the stuff that Wash would call a usual level of freelancer weird he was still getting used to. Since then Wash had watched as the most fearsome freelancer in the project was fussed over the same way North fussed over South, watched the ‘freelancer secretary squad’ (He needed a better name but that would work for now) schedule a supply drop in the span it took most people to make a phone call, watched as the agent called Mass roll straight into Texas and then proceed to hug her. Watched as Texas **let** him hug her.

Wash could have just chalked all that up to him not knowing Texas all that well. But then the group hug that began to form around Texas was interrupted by an alien the size of a teddy bear running into the room to give her a hug. The flurry of motion had knocked him to the ground as York and North had tried to push him back and down at the same time and Florida aimed the only weapon that Cali hadn’t taken right at Tex and the alien. Wash was flat on his back when Armorlock was reengaged. So, he had a good view of how terrifying Cali was as she dragged Florida out with a smile. The most shocking thing was that he could still see Texas, comforting the tinny alien as it let out what might have been whimpers on a baby.

Then FILLIS had spoken from the base’s intercom system and the blue one had responded with so much joy that it had taken wash aback.

“Agent Massachusetts, it is good to see you again. But why is Alpha team in your briefing room?” FILLIS’ voice seemed to have, emotion, perplexed and amused emotions, but still more emotions than she ever displayed on the Mother of Invention.

“They were bad, so they are in timeout right now Sheila, but how are you?! Have you been having fun on the big ship?” Mass kept talking with FILLIS, and she was answering him, there wasn’t any polite professional tone, no stiff and formal word choice, not even a demand to know why there were cat-err aliens- in the facility.

After about five minutes of staring at the ceiling listening to idle small talk between Bravo and FILLIS Tex seemed to take pity on the frozen freelancers and finally asked FILLIS to patch them through to the Director and Counselor.

As they were waiting the guy in Maroon moved over to where the shattered view screen had been. He opened a hidden terminal and punched in a code. Wash braced himself for more chaos as the sound of gears turning and something began to move out of his line of sight. There was a hiss as the viewscreen began to be close and the broken glass disappeared, somehow disappearing into the windowsill.

“And you said the backup pane was a stupid idea.” The guy in orange called out from his spot in a comfortable chair that matched his armor. “It still is a stupid idea. We didn’t need it until these guys busted in. It isn’t even the Mass-resistant stuff we put on the warthog; this is still just regular bulletproof glass.” It seemed like they were gearing up for another round of bickering.

As the glass slid into place and suddenly lit up with the Freelancer symbol. Before flashing into a blue, feminine face.

“SHEILA!!!!!!”

The blue man was suddenly out of his seat and standing right in front of the screen. The woman looked fondly at the gathered agents before she announced that she was connecting them to the Director and Counselor. Out of the corner of his visor Wash could just barely see Tex hand the guy in regulation red the teddy-alien why immediately started fussing again. The man began to bounce the tinny alien on his lap.

The faces of the leaders of Project Freelancer appeared a second later. The Director appeared disgruntled and the Counselor was the same calm as always. “Sir” Wash could feel all the other frozen Freelancers speak at once, all at varying degrees of embarrassed at their predicament.

“You wouldn’t happen to be missing four amazons, three gladiators, two barbarians, a Goliath, and a cyclops, would you?” Ham asked. Wash had to bite his tongue to stop the ‘Who’s a barbarian’ comeback at the back of his throat.

“Yes, we seem to be missing several individuals that fall under those categories, but you seem to be missing a barbarian.” The Counselor responded evenly, as if he hadn’t just had the strangest sentence leave his mouth. “He is currently strapped down like a deer on to the front of a runaway warthog.” Cali was back. She had thrown a long sleeve turtleneck dress-thing over the tank top she had been wearing as well as a pair of glasses perched on her nose. She had carried in three different colored files and a pair of glasses, looking very much like the ‘secretary-bitch’ South had called her when Cali had frozen them a second time.

“Now since everyone is here, we can start discussing why you thought it was best to send in a team on a search and destroy mission without making sure that all your operatives are dead.”The red man spoke his voice was livid as he took the files from Cali’s hands and placed the squirming teddy-alien into her arms.

This would not end well

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I think I am about to give all of Freelancer an aneurysm with this 'conversation' they are about to witness.  
> Let me know what you think will happen because I'm blocked and introductions haven't officially been made yet.  
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> -Spazz


	8. SNAFU: Situation Normal; All Fucked Up Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wash has an aneurysm, the Director nearly bursts a vein, and Tex plays patty-cake with an alien.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another long chapter. I hope it was worth the wait. Special thanks to Jade who helped me through descriptions!
> 
> Thank you to everyone who reviewed for part one!!! you all gave me a push to get through this today. I didn't get everything done that I wanted to write but that just means that you all have another chapter. Hope you enjoy!!!!

**Chapter 7: SNAFU Part 2**

Wash was having an aneurysm.

Wash was hallucinating, South had hit him too hard and he was seeing things.

Wash was dead. He had finally asked too many questions and Carolina had spaced him like she had been threatening to do since he joined.

Wash was stuck in some parallel universe where everything was backwards.

There had to be some reason as to why he was watching some guy in his late fifties chew out the leaders of Project Freelancer. And why they were taking it without complaint!!!!!!!

“You did not respond to any of our attempts to contact you and you missed several check-ins. We had every reason to believe that your team was compromised or destroyed.”

Well almost no complaint. The Director had been trying to defend his choices on the mission to the red man for nearly an hour and so far, the Director had made no headway. The man had combatted every point the Director made with a perfect rebuttal. The man had so far managed to point out seven different ways they could have checked in on the base without needing to send in a team. Five of them Wash hadn’t even know was possible.

“So, your best choice was to send in a team with no teamwork capabilities, no negotiating skills, and no information on who they were supposed to rescue or recover?” Ouch. That may have been true, but they had held their own… Until a girl smaller than Wash’s grandmother had beaten all of them at once with the press of a button.

“Texas had information on your team we expected her to share after the briefing.” The Director countered, apparently ignoring the jabs about his top agents failing spectacularly at negotiation and teamwork.

“So you expect your rookie member, whom you never even though to inform of our ‘questionable’ status in the first place, to get over the shock of potentially losing an entire base of her comrades in one, undetectable attack, to pull herself together in the span of a few hours, and give a report to a competitive, clusterfuck team that probably wouldn’t have listened to her in the first place?”

**_“Mont!!”_ **

Finally! The hallucinations were ending! Someone had come to their senses; Bravo had remained silent during the argument. Wash had caught a few doing paperwork from his position staring at the ceiling. A few others had kept the small alien occupied with games of peak-a-boo. There were even a few watching Grifball on a small handheld holo-screen. The blue guy, Mass, had grabbed a broom and started poking some of the frozen freelancers with it for a while until Texas had told him to stop.

As the pink girl turned to the red guy with aghast body language, she began to rebuke the man for his disrespect towards his superiors. “Not in front of the baby!”

**or maybe not.**

“If you are going to use that kind of language at least say ‘Charlie-Foxtrot’ it means the same thing, but it is safer for children’s development.” The pink lady continued. Her posture reminded Wash of how his mom would get when she was lecturing his dad on how to behave around the cat.

“If you had even spoken to Tex before this whole thing went down, _she_ could have informed you that we were in the middle of a communications blackout caused by weather conditions in our system. The _same_ information we had given you a month prior if you had bothered to check your email instead of having Sheila do it.”

That was another thing, Agent Texas and FILSS had apparently known the assembled team for several months, since Texas had joined the Project, from what Wash could tell, and this group somehow knew them better than his own team was supposed to! That hurt more than it should have, Wash had known that Texas was being excluded, often purposefully, and he had done nothing, maybe if he had acted sooner and tried to talk to Texas than this wouldn’t have happened.

“FILSS is a Freelancer Logistic System, it is her job to handle menial tasks such as-” The Director was cut off by an angry Mass who was in front of the camera faster than Wash’s eyes could follow. “SHEILA is in charge of too many things on too many bases to have to do your work for you. So, you should just stop being lazy and just read your letters instead of making her do it!”

Wow. Wash **had** to be dead, there was no way even his most concussed, oxygen deprived state he could _ever_ come up with this scenario.

“We are getting off topic.” The Director tried to deflect. “Your, right.” The man in red conceded. “The topic we are addressing is that you ordered a group of overpowered dunderheads to infiltrate a base that they had clearance, he-heck an invitation to come to, make a mess of things, and break several important pieces of equipment all without running any kind of reconnaissance to check the actual situation.”

Wash wanted to protest, he hadn’t broken the Warthog or the wall, they had come barreling into him! As he eavesdropped in on- you know what, never mind, Wash would gladly take the blame for breaking a wall if it meant he never had to go through anything like that again.

“Why do we have to give you an emergency communications system if you don’t want to use it?” The teal guy spoke up from his spot next to Texas and Cali. He had been engaged in a game of patty-cake with Texas and the tiny alien a moment ago. Now he stood and gently pulled the blue soldier back towards his seat.

“Enough! I will not explain my choices to people who will not understand their virtuoso!” The Director finally erupted. As his voice echoed through the room. Wash could hear Ham grumble “He totally forgot about it” under his breath.

The Director seemed to hear it too, because he turned a color of maroon Wash hadn’t seen since he had been put on a mission with the Triplets that had destroyed two docking bays on the Mother of Invention and put a dozen people in the medbay. 479er had been _pissed_.

“The only reason we noticed your absence was because we were trying to order Agent Vermont, Puerto Ricco, and New Hampshire to transfer to the Mother of Invention so that they can apply your ‘improvements’ to the training facility.” The Director spoke with a finality that seemed to demand that the red man roll over and comply completely. Wash fully expected the man yield then and there, apologize for his outbursts and scramble to pacify his angry boss.

**“Why?”**

The aneurysm theory was looking much more probable as he listened Cali question the Director this time. She shifted the alien-youngling to her hip as she moved to stand in front of the camera. The Director appeared almost smug as the woman moved into view, looking every bit the small, weak, child she had right before she had frozen the most dangerous agents in Freelancers.

“Because the _real agents_ onboard the Mother of Invention will better benefit from the technology you use than your small group will. Besides, the rest of you will be busy finishing the personalized enhancements in the two weeks they are working.” The Director’s voice spat venom as he practically insulted the woman who stood in front of him impassively. Wash could see Ham move to stand but a gentle hand from the maroon guy stopped him. A slight shifting of his head inside his helmet allowed Wash to see the teal guy was practically being sat on by Mass. There were a few hand motions Wash could vaguely make out as ‘let -something resembling a C- take care of -a crude symbol resembling a D- have, small, devotion.’ Whatever that meant.

“But why those three, why so soon? Out of the three people you just requested only one of them is versed well enough in the tertiary simulation setup to actually work on it efficiently, the rest would just be waiting for his orders, something that any tech onboard the MoI could do.

Additionally, we just told you that Agents North and South Dakota, Florida, and Connecticut, managed to fry a good portion of the equipment in the Blue Lab and busted up the secondary simulation room. So, we wouldn’t be able to test and send you the working ones next month, much less next week. If you still want us to rebuild all the gear within two months and assist with running the SIM bases, we will need all hands-on deck to rebuild, test, and modify the Enhancement Units.” The woman shifted the baby, raising him higher on her hip.

“Now we might understand this choice this wasn’t the first mission you have given out in several months or if we had broken some of the gear defending ourselves but none of us used any weapons against Alpha team. So, there should be no reason for us to replace any of the E-Units.”

Cali took another breath before continuing. “Maybe it would be possible for us to make it work if you didn’t take all of our engineers to update a system we improved on last month, or if you sent some techs to help us with recovering what was broken but instead you moved up our timetable, and took most of our agents that actually know how to build and fix the devices. But the two weeks you gave us isn’t even enough time to test _working_ equipment. You said yourself that what happened to Agent Utah was due to lack of safety protocols and testing, which is why you put us on testing and modifying E-Units in the first place.”

The woman’s voice had become dangerous as she addressed the Director, it wasn’t quite as intense as it had been as she dragged Florida out, but it was definitely threatening.

“D.C. If I didn’t know any better, I would have to assume that you were trying to sabotage and kill your own agents.” Another dangerous smile as she shifted the grabbed the teddy-alien’s hand and moved it like she was dancing. The little being gave an excited honking cry as if it was excited. “And if I did have that impression than I would be required by law to report you to the UNSC division committee for abuse of power.”

The Director had a vane pulsing, had he always had that vein?

“D.C. If you want us to update the training rooms on the MoI then Vern and I can go. He has the most experience with the tertiary simulation room he can get everything done in about three weeks and Doc said I just need the medic’s approval on the MoI before I return to full duty next week. I can help Vern with the updates until then; so long as I’m not running any simulations or operating heavy machinery. But if we do that Tex and another freelancer will have to stay here to fill in for me and Vern and help with the heavy lifting.”

It looked like the Director was about to burst again. But the Counselor stepped into view before he exploded. His entire demeanor was passive but there was a strange glint in his eye that Wash couldn’t decipher. “Very well, who would be preferable to remain at Outpost: Blood Gulch?”

Wash could feel the collective gaze wash over his team as all of Bravo looked at his still frozen team. He could see a few signs flash too quickly for him to decipher. Before Cali turned back to the screen. “We believe that Agent Washington would be a good fit with our group.” Oh no.

_Why him?_

“Very well, Agent Texas and Washington will remain at the outpost to assist with repairs for a month while you two update the training facility for the Mother of Invention. When the repairs are completed Agent Texas and Washington will bring three completed, specified enhancements back with them.” There was a nod of agreement from Cali before the Counselor continued. “Now, if you would be so kind as to unfreeze Alpha squad so introductions can be made.”

Cali seemed to pause and as if she had no idea what he was talking about.

“Oh, right. Are you guys all cool now or do I have to remove the K-bar in York’s pants and the knife in Wyoming’s belt?” Cali stood in front of the clump of freelancers with one hand supporting the tiny alien and her other on her waist.

“We’re cool.” Wash found himself answering before anyone else. HE could feel the heat from Carolina’s gaze burning into him, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel the usual feelings of fear associated with the top freelancer.

Why should he bother, this was all a dream?

Cali smiled as she picked up the controller again. “Ok, TJ you want to do the honors?”

Their ability to move depended on a small being that they had just tried to kill. Cali held the remote close to the tiny alien who let out a honk excitement before he slammed his hand over the red button.

Just like before there was a second where Wash felt his body return to him before he let out a cry of pain as South stepped on him. She barely missed his crotch as the full force of her bodyweight pressed into his stomach and knocked the air out of him.

Ok, maybe _not_ a dream.

The counselor’s voice come over the intercom before anyone could do something that would get them frozen again. “Agents, allow me to introduce you to Bravo team. The group in SIM shades of red would be their strategic unit. The man in Orange is Agent New Hampshire. He is Bravo teams’ vehicle specialist and mechanic. He also has several fields of specialized knowledge. The Pink Agent is-” The counselor was interrupted with the pink woman interjecting that it was lightish-red. “Right, the, _ahem_ , lightish-red agent is Pennsylvania, Bravo’s infiltration specialist and demolitions expert. The agent in Brown is Puerto Ricco, their head mechanic and technician. Agent Vermont is the man in Maroon he is the head researcher and second in command of the strategic unit. And finally, the Commanding Officer of the strategic unit and all of Bravo is Agent Montana in red.” Every member of Bravo’s strategy unit gave an indication of who they were with some kind of wave or other indication as to who they were.

The Counselor took a moment to let it all soak in before he continued. “The others in shades of blue are their combat unit. The man in teal is Virginia their close combat and specialist on aliens. He serves as Bravo’s second in command after Montana’s Active Combat Leader role and is the commanding officer of Blue team when Montana or Texas isn’t present. All of you have met Agent Massachusetts, their frontliner and, arguably, the heaviest hitter in the Project. He served as a SPARTAN based on the moons of Ego before he was transferred to our division.” The blue soldier gave a powerful wave that threatened to knock him out of his chair. “The man in purple is Agent Delaware, the Chief Medical Officer of their team.” The man wearing purple armor that had come in with the little alien gave an awkward wave towards the group. “and the lady in civilian clothes is Agent California. She is their specialist in infiltration as well as weapons, recon, and scouting.”

“It is very nice to meet you.” Delaware stated as he moved to help Wash stand. “Is there anything that I can do to check out your health or make sure that you recovered from the crash Penny told me about?”

Wash was **_definitely_** in a parallel universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming up on the end. Maybe one more chapter left!  
> Thank you again to everyone who reviewed for part one!!! I didn't want to make everything in Wash's point of view but this seemed like a good place to end, next time everyone deals with the fallout, Wash finally gets to talk to Tex, and everyone gets to taste Ham's cooking!!!!


	9. Rank and Apologies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bravo’s introductions are finished but the craziness only seems to get worse as introductions continue. See how Tex and Wash deal with the fallout!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. As most of you probably know the lock down sucks and is a bitch to keep on top of when you are learning on a computer.  
> I wanted to give you the whole kit-and-caboodle but I gave up waiting and I'm just going to give you what I have complete from the next two scenes and hopefully get more out this weekend.

As Doc began to help Alpha squad up and look over injuries Cali walked over to Tex and placed TJ into her arms again. The baby gave an excited hiccup at being back in her arms before he tried to burrow through her armor again. Cali’s dark brown eyes looked into Tex’s blue-green, they seemed to ask a question ‘are you sure?’ Tex looked back at Washington who tried to brush off Doc’s fussing too hard that he ended up getting Penny to start fussing over him as well. Tex felt herself smile at Washington’s embarrassed tones as he tried to fight off the nurturing instincts of Bravo’s doctor and self-appointed nurse. Tex looked down to TJ who was starting to doze off in her arms. Before she returned her gaze to Cali, “Yes.” Tex’s voice was soft but firm and confident in her proclamation. Agent Washington would get along well with Bravo and more importantly TJ.

“Ahem” The voice of the Counselor came from the speakers startling the occupants in the room enough to put the room into silence. Everyone turned back to the screen. The director was back in view, looking less red in the face but the vein in his forehead was still throbbing. “Would Alpha squad like to introduce themselves or would you prefer we did?” The Director’s voice was stiff and short, clearly still trying to soothe his ego after he was outmaneuvered by Mont and Cali.

“We can do that Sir.” Carolina answered quickly, not catching the minuscule twitches of irritation that crossed his face. “He wanted to brag.” Virg murmured from behind Tex, watching TJ sleep over she shoulder. The Counselor nodded, “Very well then Agent California and Vermont, I will meet with you both when you arrive on the Mother of Invention to discuss the updates and your recovery process. Agent Montana would two days be enough time to take stock on what was destroyed and what is repairable?” A short noise of confirmation from Mont was all the counselor needed. The Counselor and Director signed off with brief good-byes and instructions to refuel the pelican and leave at ten-hundred hours tomorrow. The screen flashed off as everyone turned to each other, anxious to get introductions over with.

“I am Agent Carolina; this is Agent New York.” Carolina started placing a hand on York’s shoulder. The man had collapsed into Mass’s plush chair with a thump as soon as Cali had deactivated armorlock. Today had probably been ten times more stress than he was able to deal with on a good day. Much less after leaving the medbay last night with instructions to not push himself.

“The man Agent California escorted out is Agent Florida. The big guy in the Hephaestus armor is Agent Maine, and the agent next to him is Connecticut.” Maine gave a grunt and Connecticut crossed her arms. “The man in the violet armor is North Dakota and the woman beside him in the orchid armor is South Dakota.” North gave a friendly wave from the seat Doc had placed him in to check him for injuries. South did nothing to indicate she was paying attention in her position standing next to North Dakota as she tried to convey a scowled through her visor. She only gave a half-hearted wave after North nudged her. “The men in white and grey are Wyoming, and Washington.” Washington gave an aborted wave from his position on the table where Penny had put him as Doc checked out the others and Wyoming gave a mocking salute.

This was going surprisingly well, no indication of rank or leaderboard status. No obsessive mentions of the leaderboard. Just casual, if stiff, introductions.

“We are the _best_ the Project has to offer. The top ten of the leaderboards.” South managed to announce through her busted speaker. Pride in her voice and her stance changed from hostile to cocky.

So much for that. But at least South Dakota was just bragging not trying to-

“What are your ranks?” South demanded as everyone began to move to get things accomplished with introductions out of the way and their bosses done giving them orders.

Spoke too soon.

“What are you talking about?” Ham answered. He had remained seated during the introductions and had pulled up a holo-file he and Mont were looking over, they were probably checking what they had in stock for supplies. Their numbers had just increased by 110% for the next 18 hours. They would probably need to watch what they ate if they wanted to make it to their next supply drop. They would also probably need to make up space for everyone to sleep.

“Your rank. Like where you are on the leaderboard?” York sounded a bit perplexed as Doc finished up with North and moved to him. York paused for a second to allow for Doc to begin removing his helmet and inspect him.

“What leaderboard?” It was Virg that spoke this time he and Mass had started to righten upturned chairs, Tex couldn’t help but notice the chair Mass was next to was black with a yellow paper star taped to the back that hadn’t been there last time she had visited.

“ _The_ leaderboard? You know? The thing that has all of our state names on it? It’s usually blue and white, has big white numbers to show how you place compared to the others? They will usually have our specialties displayed as a symbol next to our status, like a lock for infiltration, a gun for weapons specialist, a target for sharp-shooter.” Washington was the one to answer, trying to describe it as best as he could.

“Oh, you mean the chore wheel!” Mass called out, “That was set on fire last night after an incident with the stove. But it was definitely Ham’s turn to cook tonight.” Alpha squad looked lost as Ham chuckled and Virg grumbled about how he always got stuck with doing the laundry.

“No, the Leaderboard, it has numbers that change from mission to mission, it tells you how you score compared to everyone else!” Connecticut was the one to answer this time. That was strange Tex heard she had stopped caring about her rank a month before Tex’s introduction after a mission had gone sideways.

“Umm, Sheila are you still there? Can you show us this leaderboard they are talking about?” Vern requested as he looked at the woman warily. Tex didn’t blame him Alpha squad had always been tightly wound but they could be downright rabid when it came to their scores.

“Of course, Agent Vermont. Just a moment.”

Sheila’s kind face was back on the screen for a moment before the Freelancer sign was back and the leaderboard began to appear.

First was Carolina then Tex’s own name, only a few points away. Followed by York and Wyoming with a larger gap between them. North Dakota and South Dakota were a few hundred points within each other. Washington was after them only a hundred points behind South Dakota. Maine was after followed by Connecticut and Florida was the last name on the top ten score.

A second list began to appear beside them with Bravo’s score. Virg had the highest score of 16 followed by Mass at 17, surprisingly Ham was the next at 20 followed closely by Vern at 21, and Mont at 22. Ricco was after at 25 and Penny was following at 27 Doc was at 28 just a few hundred points behind Penny. Last was Cali at 35 but next to her name was a bold **‘INACTIVE/INJURED-2mnth/2wk rtrn’** and her entire stripe was purple to indicate that her score was supposed to be fixed for the last 2 months and estimated 2 weeks until she would be back on full duty.

All of Alpha squad gawked. Tex could tell that they were shocked. To be fair, the Project did have a lot of agents and only Washington seemed to pay any attention to agents’ placement off the leaderboard. But still had they really believed that since the Blood Gulch Freelancers didn’t go through the Director’s insane reflex training that they weren’t skilled? Granted they had dropped ranking in the last few weeks they had been working on EUs but they still remained in the top 25 percentile with the exception of Cali who had to be benched, sometimes forcibly, to ensure she recovered.

“So that’s the thing.” Cali didn’t sound too impressed as she straightened her glasses before she turned to Virg and Tex. If you take the baby, I’ll yank the scalpel out of Tex’s armor. Tex jerked at the sudden reminder of the little gift Florida had left behind. Glancing at TJ who, thankfully, hadn’t tried to touch the navy sliver still jutting out of her right breastplate. The blade was only two inches long and half an inch thick and would match Florida’s arm guards perfectly when it was MAG-locked into position.

Tex chanced a glance at the rest of Alpha squad, they were all still trying to process the leaderboard stats. It might be a good idea to get the ball rolling so that there weren’t any more hissy fits. “Right, Virg do you want to put him to bed so that he isn’t underfoot?” Tex questioned as she handed the small bundle over. “Sure, we all better get moving so that we are ready for lights out.” Virg checked his chrono before taking his son. It stated that it was about five hours till mealtime. Everyone would have to put their normal work aside to set up for their extra guests.

Tex was taken out of her thoughts by Cali stepping closer and sliding on a pair of MAG gloves Vern had been working on last time she was there. “Hold still and this should just be a second.” Cali warned her as she stood in front of Tex. It was probably very comical. Tex with her 6 foot eight and almost every inch of her covered in menacing power armor, even her hair was pulled back in a severe braid. Tex was the picture of a stern warrior. And in front of her stood Cali with a crazy grin and mischievous glint in her eye. Her civilian clothing and glasses combined with her long tresses falling in loose, wild curls down her back gave the image of an undergrad student about to do something stupid. The MAG-gloves which were little more than black motorcycle gloves with metal bracelets connected to the wrist that glowed purple were the only indicator of what damage she could really do.

Tex braced herself as Cali placed a foot against Tex’s thigh for traction. “On three, One, Two, Thr-EEE” Cali screamed as Mass surprised the two of them by grabbing Cali’s waist on two and yanking her away, sending the two of them sprawling into Doc and Penny. “I’m ok,” Cali called out before Ham or anyone else could ask. She waved the knife that now floated just out of her grasp, indicating she hadn’t accidentally impaled someone with it in the chaos. The MAG-gloves kept the knife from falling to the ground but also prevented it from touching the leather of the glove as it rotated in the purple magnetic field.

“Well, now that we have that out of the way how about we get started on prepping for our guests?” Penny questioned them with hands on his waste and a cock of his hips. That seemed to get everyone moving. Virg grabbed Mass and they both bid their farewells, claiming that they would handle Blue base. Penny grabbed Doc and with a squeeze of his hand stated that they would take a look at Florida and get Red base situated for their guests. Vern left to start gathering what he would need to update the Mother of Invention’s training room, and probably everything else the Director would demand that he fix while there. Mont and Ricco left soon after to start taking stock of what could be recovered from the trial room and the blue lab. Ham was the last to leave after giving Cali one more look over before he declared that he would start cooking.

Cali gave one final glance towards the door and then towards Alpha squad, only now finally coming to terms with the leaderboard ranking. “If you want to keep an eye on your team, I have to clean up the mess Miss. Number One left of my meeting room.” Cali gave Tex one more look before she returned to sorting files on the ground.

Tex looked up to see most of Alpha squad had stared to depart as well, South had been dragged out by North, probably to keep from starting a fight, York had done the same for Carolina and Wyoming had followed to try and ‘rescue’ Florida from Doc and Penny as Maine and Connecticut left with him, muttering about getting a better look at the area. Washington stood in the doorway, probably to follow the others. Tex knew she should follow them, who knows what safety features they would stumble onto without her watching their backs. They had nearly triggered some of Mont’s more wild security measures on their way here. Only Tex’s Canyon clearance and knowledge of where the shut off points were had kept the oblivious team from accidentally nuking themselves.

Tex still hesitated. She didn’t want to deal with the accusative visors and snappy sarcasm from Alpha. They were hard to deal with on a good day, after an encounter like this that had ended up with bruised egos, Tex didn’t want to know how bad of an attitude everyone would have aimed towards her. She had been angrier and more impulsive lately. Normally she could put up with their bullshit for longer periods of time but with her nightmare of a man’s voice crying out in pain that left her feeling helpless and angry when she woke up occurring more and more frequently Tex had found her usually short fuse getting shorter and shorter. The sudden announcement that Bravo’s silence may have been because they were dead had made the nightmares even worse. The Counselor had said the nightmare was the just a byproduct of her amnesia, like the rest of her dreams, but Doc had been concerned enough that Bravo had started offering to listen in addition to Doc’s… unconventional therapy sessions.

It had helped but she was still prone to biting someone’s head off if she was pushed. However, it did mean that her New Year’s Resolution of being more diplomatic was coming along nicely when she didn’t have to deal with Alpha squad for extended periods of time. So instead of following the others out the door Tex touched Cali’s shoulder and made her an offer.

“VIC and Sheila can keep an eye on Alpha squad. I’ll take care of this mess if you want to help Ham in the kitchen.” Tex offered, praying that her desperation was obvious, she didn’t want to be pushed towards team bonding right now.

It seemed that time apart hadn’t weakened Cali’s perception, she could still read Tex like a book. With a smile and a comforting hand on her shoulder She answered Tex without hesitation. “Sure, you remember the system we have for filing? Anything you aren’t sure about leave in the manilla file and I’ll get to it before lights out.” With a comforting shoulder squeeze Cali used Tex’s shoulder as leverage to stand up. Tex watched as Cali collected a few of the things left the others had left behind, namely Mass’s helmet and the medkit that would need to be restocked. She turned to Washington that had been staring at the two of them. “Hey, big guy. Do you need me to show you to the showers? If you get in now you will probably miss the rush.” Washington seemed to jump at being addressed. “Umm, I was actually wondering if I could help Texas?” He answered but his uncertainty was obvious. He quickly began to backtrack at Cali’s raised eyebrow.

“I mean if it’s alright with the two of you? I know that everyone has been at odds with each other and that you probably just want to be alone but if we work together than-” Cali cut off his embarrassed word vomit with a smile as she glanced at Tex. Tex had always sucked at reading expressions, she had improved during her time with the Blood Gulch Freelancers but she still had a hard time reading Cali, especially now.

“I’m alright with it as long as you don’t cause too much trouble.” Cali responded, with a reassuring squeeze of Texs’ hand she left the two Freelancers to the job of sorting files.

Tex and Washington looked at each other for about thirty seconds before they got to work. Washington had mostly been collecting papers as Tex sorted them into piles. They worked in silence for several minuets with the only sound was the shuffling of paper or occasional thud as something was knocked into.

Well it was better than accusations.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Wash had no idea what he was doing.

This was the first chance he had to talk with Texas and he was getting cold feet. The minuet he was done she would dismiss him, and he wouldn’t get another chance with how protective these other Freelancers seemed to be.

Wash was actively trying not to think about them to be honest. His world was crazy enough without some super strong technician-secretary people! And now he had to spend a month with them. He needed to talk to Texas before he had to deal with any more weird stuff.

“So, you know these guys well?” STUPID! Of course, she did! She had only called to all of them by name and let them fuss over her. She didn’t even like it when the medics on the Mother of Invention look her over when she was injured. There was a light laugh at his statement. But it wasn’t a condescending snicker like 479er, South, or Wyoming would do or even a harsh chuckle he would get from North, York, or CT when he did something they declared naïve.

This was similar to what he would get when he did something that reminded Maine of his younger siblings, but it was warmer, kinder. Something he hadn’t thought possible twenty-four hours ago, but it sounded… right?

“Yea, you could say that. They were the first people to welcome me to the Project.” Tex answered his question kindly as she moved several papers into an orange folder. Wash took a moment to digest that. “Does that mean that you met them before you came to the Mother of Invention?” SHIT!! Wash knew the people he worked with, he hadn’t been welcomed to the team until he had been on the ship for three months, and that had only happened that soon been because the triplets had managed to get it out of him while drinking and welcomed him with a cheer and another shot.

Wash chanced a glance at Texas who surprisingly, smiled at him. It was the kind of smile his mother used to give him when he had asked an endearing question, like the time he had asked why Loki’s kittens were so small. There was no malice or even annoyance he would have gotten from the others just gentle patience.

“No, about a week after that whole disaster with Wyoming, York and Maine, DC brought us to a storage facility and we battled.”

This was the first time Wash had seen Texas’ face make some kind of expression other than anger. He realized as he saw her features turn into a gentle, content smile. She was really pretty when she smiled. Her wisps of blond hair had fallen out of her braid framed her heart-shaped face and blue-green eyes twinkled the same color as Carolina’s armor.

“Did they manage to beat you?” Wash found himself asking. Trying to snap himself out of his stupor before he was caught staring for too long. Judging by the amused twinkle in Texas’ eyes, he didn’t think he was successful.

“No, they got their asses handed to them. But they managed to score more points than Alpha’s best agents did.” Her voice was light and the twinkle in her eye seemed to shine at his starstruck expression.

“It was what they did when they were given active ammo that set them apart from Alpha squad.” Wash felt himself flinch.

“I’m sorry.” Wash found himself interrupting before she could continue with the story. Texas stared at him surprise evident at his sudden outburst.

**Better now than never.**

“I am sorry for how I have treated you. How all of us have treated you. You hadn’t done anything to deserve it. We listened to you lecture York about never abandoning your team. We should know that you won’t willingly hurt any of us. Hell, you saved York when you had no reason to help him. But we still treated you like shit. Like it was your fault the incident happened when Wyoming and Maine were the ones that took the weapons and tried to kill you. They were the ones that hurt York and they were the ones that should have been punished for it. But they weren’t, they were told that had done a good job and we didn’t stop to check that you were alright. You have trusted us to watch your back and all any of us have ever done is give you shit because of it.”

Wash was rambling he couldn’t stop it. He had been thinking about it since yesterday. Every training exercise she had put herself in charge of keeping her teammates safe and more often than not her teammates would go out of their way to ignore her or put her in danger hoping to lower her leaderboard score. Her very first interaction with the team had ended up with one guy betraying his teammates because he didn’t agree with what they were doing and the two others opening fire on her because they couldn’t handle losing to the new girl. Wash had stood on the sidelines for far too long. And apologizing was the first step in fixing that.

A gentle hand on his shoulder ended Wash’s rant “I accept your apology Agent Washington. And I forgive you.” Texas told him with a gentle expression. It was as if she had never heard an apology before but was happy that she was hearing this. Wash was stunned. If it was anyone else, they would give him hell, but she was saying that it was ok, that she forgave him!

“Wash.” He found himself answering as Texas returned to the files

“Excuse me?” The confusion in her voice was evident.

“Wash, my friends call me Wash” He answered distractedly, he could heel the blush beginning to rise again.

Texas’s face broke into a crooked grin at his declaration. Wash tried not to think about how he was probably the first person to declare himself her friend from the Mother of Invention.

“Then you can call me Tex.”

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Cali stood next to the door, listening to the two freelancers talk when she heard footsteps behind her.

“How’s it going?” Virg’s voice was hushed so that the two in the meeting room wouldn’t be disturbed.

“He just apologized. Pretty well, he listed everything he did wrong and even admitted that he was wrong to let others behave the way they have.” Cali answered him just as softly. They listened to the declaration of friendship and the idle small talk that followed for a few minutes longer before Cali grabbed his arm and began to pull him towards the elevator at the end of the hall.

“I think the big blondie was a good choice.” She finally said as the door closed behind them ant they left the two new friends to bond.

“You’re right I think freckles, will be a good friend to have her back when they get back to the MoI DC still gives me the creeps.” Virg answered her as they rode to the upper levels of the nerve center of their operations.

“Bet you 20 bucks he is trying to grow a beard to look older.” Cali finally said as the door opened and they both stepped out.

You’re on.” They shook hands before going their separate ways. Her to help her brother cook, him to play babysitter to a bunch of Neanderthals and Mass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like it? Let me know what you think in the comments and let me know how I am doing! Getting this conversation right took a few tries and I have dropped a few hints here for future twists, chapters, and story arcs.  
> Thank you to everyone who has put up with my sudden nearly week long hiatus.


	10. Alternative Scenarios

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I just realized I forgo to post this with the last chapter. Hope you all enjoy this little bonus of Chapter 9. I might move this when I post the acual chapter 10.

** Alternative scenario: Dibs **

“And the men in white and grey are Wyoming and Washington respectively”

There was a moment of silence to allow for Bravo to process what they had been told.

“We-” South started to say before Virg cut her off abruptly.

“Dibs”

“What?” York asked. Swiveling in his chair to turn to Virg.

“Dibs, I just called dibs.”

“On what?”

“On Tex, she is now a permanent part of Blue Team!” Virg high-fived Cali as Mass cheered and the others looked bewildered.

“You can’t call dibs on a person. She isn’t a piece of meat.” Washington sounded confused and a bit appalled at the fact the Virg would try and claim her. It made Tex feel warm, the gesture was nice if misplaced.

“Of, course she isn’t but if you guys don’t want her than we get first dibs.”

“Who said we didn’t want her?”

“The fin-ow-” Cali had jabbed her elbow into Virg’s side, her arms just small enough that her elbow fit in the small gab in between the armor plates that protected his torso. It was probably for the best Carolina wouldn’t like being hit on and while it may have been fun to watch Virg squirm, it would be a pain in the ass to convince Carolina not to use the teal soldier as target practice.

“Agent Carolina did, she introduced the members of your team but not Tex. So she must not be a part of your team.” Virg answered

“Sure we can, as long as _she_ doesn’t disagree” Cali answered at the same time

l called dibs on her. You can all just suck it up. Bow Chicka Wow Wow."

Tex let an amused chuckle escape her as Bravo began to argue over her.

It was good to be home

** Alternative Scenario: Bragging **

“We are the best in the Project”

“Weird flex but ok.” Cali was the one to respond to South from her position on the ground, she had started collecting files that had been scattered when she had been attacked by Carolina.

“What do you mean weird flex?” South demanded as she approached the kneeling woman. Cali only gave her a done look only a younger sister could manage as South stared her down.

“I mean why would you want to be on the top of this leaderboard when you don't get any reward for being on the top. From what Tex has told us all it means is you have lousier hours and more work to complete. Give us our usual hours with paid overtime any day of the week.” Ham was the one to answer South as he moved to help Cali pick up papers.

“Wait, you get overtime?”

** Alternative Scenario: MAG-Gloves **

Thr-EE. Cali cried out as Mass grabbed her torso and practically launched the two of them into Carolina and York. “Ow” quietly followed as Cali ended up sandwiched in between the three Freelancers.

“Cali are you alright?” Penny was the first to react as he tried to move the hulking forms off his teammate and Alpha’s top soldiers off of her.

Penny finally managed to do just that, but the minuet Mass was pulled away Cali’s right hand was pulled as well.

As York began to shift Cali’s left hand with the knife was revealed to be pressed a little too low for comfort.

“Ummm. Do you mind?” York’s irritation was obvious, but he had an undercurrent of fear as Cali held a knife very close to his…

“Sorry but I can’t Mass is the only one strong enough to pull a MAG-glove off of armor and my other hand is currently pressed against his backside from when he grabbed me.” Cali’s voice was calm as she maneuvered herself to stand up sideways as the two men stood. Her shortness working in her favor as the man’s extremities were just low enough that she could stand up properly.

Virg was taking a video with his helmet as he began to berate Mass. “Mass we told you that Vern managed to fix the gloves you don’t need to jerk people off anymore. Bow Chicka Bow Wow.” As he stated that Ham moved to Cali’s left hand and Doc moved to her right. At the same time, they pressed the release button on the bracelets that disengaged the magnetic lock. Doc managing to preserve York’s manhood and Ham managing to fully remove Cali from their teammate.

“Virginia did it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who posted on the last chapter. I hope this cleared up a few questions


	11. Virginia's Adventure in Bbbysitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virg watches Alpha Squad. He regrets it deeply

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. Classes online are hared and end up taking more time than if i had gone to class in the first place. I hope everyone is well and safe during this period of isolation and I hope that this makes your self imposed lock-in a bit more bearable.

# Chapter 10: Virginia’s Adventures in Babysitting

Virg was about two minutes away from screaming Fuck It All and going back to blue base and doing paperwork for next month’s toiletry shipments. _That_ was how bad it was. Virg had volunteered to watch Alpha Squad- still a stupid name- with Mass instead of looking for clothes for their guest in the donations going to the SIM bases that had been hit hard by the Andromeda solar storm last month. Virg was regretting that call now. Virg hated going through other people’s clothes, it always left a weird feeling in his stomach knowing that people had given up clothing, it made him distrustful of it, even if they were clean. But that itchy uncomfortable feeling was preferable to this headache inducing shit show he was currently supervising.

And the worst thing? Mass wasn’t even the one causing the problems!!!

No, this so called “Top Ten” list somehow managed to cause more problems than the time Mass had watched that jailbreak movie and then decided to release TJ from his crib and then break into the kitchen pantry. They had woken the entire gulch at 2 AM with the clanking of pots and pans. When everyone had made it to the kitchen, they had found the entire floor covered in flour and every box of macaroni opened and the noodles scattered across the counters.

Virg remembered how thankful he had been that when Cali and Ham had remodeled the first time, they had made sure that the stove tops were electric and keyed into bio-sigs so the amount of havoc hadn’t been as bad as it could have been. They had still needed to put new locks onto the cabinets and limit Mass’s access to the pantry but to be fair they had limited his access to ready-made items like granola bars, fruit, and other grab-and-go items past lights out. He and TJ had a smaller chance of repeating their mess with the “scratch items” as Cali and Hamm called them this way.

**_Crash_ **

Virg sighed, being pulled out of his musing by South Dakota this time. She had triggered one of Mont’s reflex dummies. Metallic cutouts of different armor types and civilian silhouettes that were spread out in this particular nook the team had decided to rest in. This area was near the caves that VIC’s terminal was stored in and was large enough that they were able to run what Mont called “judgement shots.” Virg had explained to the “Alpha Freelancers” after the dipshit in white had walked into one knocking the latch that kept them down loose and launching him into the canyon wall. Virg had walked up at the exact moment he had decided to put a bullet at the figure’s head.

Mass had immediately reacted by announcing that he had just lost one hundred points by killing a civilian. The British bastard hadn’t liked that one bit. Luckily the Gold guy, Wales? Had asked what he had meant before FUV- he had to thank Mass for that- started round two. Virg had ended up explaining the entire exercise to a, strangely attentive squad.

He explained that this area was set up for what Mont called “judgement shot” exercises. The goal was to make it from one end of the area to the other while someone worked the panel activating the cutouts at different intervals you had five seconds to shoot the cutout before it went back down. The quicker the shot the better the score when you hit one. But there was a catch. You were given a specific target to hit. It could be an armor type, or color. The rest of the armored figures were friendly or neutral and you got points deducted for hitting them. The more lethal the shot the more points were deducted. The thing was that if you killed a friendly cutout you were immediately put into the negatives. You could probably get close to zero with good shots but if you even grazed a civilian it was immediate game over. The set up was supposed to teach you to slow down and learn to recognize figures before you acted. If you went in aiming for the best time you failed spectacularly. The entire task was geared towards civilian and team awareness not speed.

Now if only they would realize that and stop demanding he set it up so that they could try and beat each other.

Virg watched as another one of the ‘Top Ten’ went sailing into the canyon wall. That was another thing. How the _HELL_ were they managing that? Sure, the cutouts moved to random locations on a track under the platform they were standing on to prevent someone from falling into a pattern but how were they not aware enough that they didn’t recognize the not so subtle trap doors in the wood that made up the platforms? Even Cali with her ridiculous level of colorblindness could see where they were on the floor.

Were these people messing with him or were they really that clueless?

 _Another_ one went flying.

Well, that answered that question. Virg let out a groan as Mass cheered out the big guy’s score. He had managed two minuets before he had been launched. “What’s the score” the chick in the orchid armor demanded. What was with her and scores? They weren’t even close to the lowest scores his team had managed when Mont had first introduced the exercise to them!

“The scores are Carolina with 25 points and two and a half minutes. South Dakota with 20 points and two minutes. Maine with 18 points and 80 seconds. And the last is Wyoming with negative 60 points and 69 seconds.” Virg called out, trying not to let his annoyance bleed through at the question. They hadn’t even improved in the last four rounds, why did any of them expect the scores to be any different from last time?

When Tex had first told them how competitive her team was Virg hadn’t believed it was that bad. After all she didn’t have a very good baseline for interactions with her amnesia repressing everything from before she had joined the project sometimes, she thought things were more serious than they actually were. She hadn’t even remembered how to put on normal clothes when they had first met her and had thought that Ham and Ver bickering about which cheesy disney movie they were going to watch that nigh was grounds for grabbing Mont to intervene. After being in her team’s presence for an hour he was ready to march up to her an apologize for ever doubting her. These people were ridiculous! They were trying so hard to beat each other’s scores that they stopped paying attention to the actual goal of the exercise.

Carolina went hurdling into the wall a minute and a half after starting.

Virg let out another sigh. He wasn’t going to tell them that this exercise was only supposed to be twenty minutes long not a ‘step on a launch-pad and you are done’ exercise. Nor was he going to tell them that the worst score that hadn’t had any civilian casualties for this exercise was held by Cali at two hundred points and it was only that low because it had seemed like an easy starting point for them to work together without putting too much pressure on Cali after she had only spent two and a half weeks recovering from her surgeries. He was glad that Mass had enough sense to stay quiet about it too or they would have been here all night.

Wyoming went flying.

It could always be worse Virg tried to console himself. Mass could be asking to be launched. They could have found the primary training ground and demanded to run one of the simulations there. The chick in the brown armor could- wait, where was she?

“Mass did you see where the other members of Alpha team went?” Virg called out to Mass before South could demand that he start the simulation for her.

“Ummm. The Doctor and Pencil took the dizzy bad-guy to their office to look at his melted hand, the guy that is not Cali or Ham is asleep with his helmet on behind you, West went to find washing machine and the lady that is not Ricco left to explore the caves.” Mass answered. Standing up as Virg moved towards him, recognizing that he didn’t have to keep score anymore.

That wasn’t good, those two should have told someone that they were leaving if they wanted to walk around the gulch. “Mass you go take the others to the base and see if the others were able to figure out lodging and clothes for the night. If they weren’t able to, have Alpha squad go through the donations and see if there is anything that fits them. If you see North or Connecticut call me and have them come with you.” Virg pulled his helmet back on as he handed Mass his helmet.

“And where will you be?” Carolina demanded, stepping in front of him. Virg had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. _This chick will kick your butt for the smallest thing_. Virg reminded himself. You only have to deal with them for a few more hours then you never half to deal with this much competitive entitled bullshit again. Virg took a breath.

“I’m going to look for your wayward teammates and make sure that they didn’t wander too far into the gulch. You guys still don’t have clearance from the security system they could have triggered one of Mont’s traps. It’s better that I go alone, or the system may run the hostage protocol and attack one of you.” Virg explained, doing his best to imitate the professional tone Tex, Cali, Vern, Ham, and Mont could pull of easily. He really didn’t want to get into a pissing contest right now, he had seen how this chick and Wales had acted in the control center, he could practically smell the sexual tension coming from the two. Bow-Chicka-Wow-Wow.

Virg didn’t give her longer than a second to rebuttal before he walked towards the caves where Mass had said that Connecticut had gone to explore. He was out of earshot in a matter of seconds then he was calling VIC. “Hey VIC, do you have the missing freelancers on your scanners?” There wasn’t a chance of VIC _not_ knowing who he was talking about. There wasn’t a place in the gulch VIC wasn’t wired into, sure he only had heat signatures, mics, and speakers in the bathrooms and they had privacy settings in the bedrooms but with this many strangers in the gulch all of those privacy settings were overwritten for the sake of safety. Of course, Virg doubted that VIC would want to peep in on Penny and Doc’s date night. He would probably keep to heat signatures and lock down their room for the night.

“Sup’ Virg? Yea, I got visual on your missing troublemakers. The dudette is currently caught in a light-trap in the entrance of my cave and dude is hanging upside-down near the control center entrance as per your and Cali’s request.” That was good, or at least better than either of them being caught up in one of the not baby-proofed traps that were at the edge of the canyon and on the rim. He did not want to explain to DC that one of his ‘real agents’ had lost a body part because he was stuck running a game instead of babysitting them.

Mass would pick up North and not disturb Tex and Washington’s much needed bonding session and Virg would pick up Con- you know Virg was just going to call her Connie, it was easier to say and a recognizable version of her name. There wouldn’t be any confusion like there had been with him and Vern in the beginning. Everyone else called her CT and Virg would respect that he hadn’t gotten permission to call her that, but after putting up with the bullshit she and her team had caused he deserved to at least shorten her name.

Finding her was easy. Even in the dim cave, he didn’t even need to pull out his sword, her curses head him to the brightly illuminated trap she was stuck in. It would have been a perfect time to offer a pick up line, if it weren’t for the fact that she had been the one to find the platform that had subjected him to the nightmare he had just left he might have. As it was, he settled for leaning against a stalagmite in front of her until she gave an indication of seeing him. It took a good sixty seconds for her to stop screaming profanities at the light wall and turn her glare towards him.

This time Virg couldn’t resist letting out an amused chuckle. Her glare intensified, but Virg had dealt with a cranky TJ, some asshole threatening to kill Mass, and Cali on a war path, Connie was, by far, one of the least scary things he had to deal with this week.

“Well? Are you going to let me out?” She finally managed to spit out. He could feel her glare from where he stood. Virg tried to keep the smirk out of his voice as he answered her. “Well, what do you say?” He countered. It probably wasn’t fair to her; she hadn’t been the one to threaten Mass or subject him to the headache pounding in his skull. But Virg had spent far too much time trying to parent TJ that he launched into parent-mode anyway. “Now!” Her voice was outraged at his question, as if she couldn’t believe that he was asking for her to be polite.

Well she was in for a big surprise if she thought that Mama Virginia was going to take that sitting down. He had let them have their fun, played by their rules for a while, it was time that they realize that this was their house and that normal rules did not apply.

Let the fun begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was it? If Virg seems to be out of character its i'm sorry. He is less flirty here because these people attacked his kid. Wash was the only person from Alpha squad that hadn't made a threatening move towards his son so he is pretty fed up with everyone by now.
> 
> I hope that things will cool down soon so I can update a bit faster and I hope everyone is safe for the rest of the lock in.
> 
> Thank you all for reading  
> -Spazz


	12. Dinner and a Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner is ready and the show is about to begin. But who are the performers and who is the audience?  
> Read and find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! Thank everyone who reviewed on the last chapter and every other chapter. I am sorry for the delay. I hope everyone is being safe during this global lock in and that this made the lock in a bit more bearable.  
> As always let me know how I'm doing, you have all been so kind so far and I love hearing what you have to say!!!

# Chapter 12: Dinner and a Show

Cali had just taken the last dish out of the oven when the proximity alarm went off.

“Ricco is back” Ham called out as he placed the eggplant parmesan on its serving dish. Ricco had left earlier to get the plane and run diagnostics with 479er. As always, Ricco’s timing was impeccable. Cali and Ham had just finished the meal. They had both been careful with preparing the food just in case of any allergies or other dietary restrictions that hadn’t been in any files. The files from the Counselor had been strange, they had included a disturbingly in depth psych evaluations but next no nothing on medical or dietary measures they needed to take. On the other hand, they had known that Florida had a childhood bacon related trauma. If it was anything about Mass’s issue with asparagus, it was a good warning.

It was nice to do this again. Cooking with her brother. She and Ham rarely had the chance to cook together since her surgeries. She had been stuck on bead rest for a week after and hadn’t been allowed to do more than watch the others work for a while after that. She hadn’t minded much in the beginning. It had made sense that she would need to spend her time in recovery doing other things. Especially since her recovery period had been filled with rapid mood swings; it had probably been best for her to have the chance to settle down and she had managed to lighten the workload by having re-organizing their operations but as she got closer to being back to active duty, she found herself getting more and more stir crazy. She had nearly ripped Virg’s head off yesterday when he had stopped her from putting on her armor to help fix the power lines.

He had been right; she couldn’t wear her old armor because the plates put too much pressure on her healing scars, and it was still very dangerous for her to be around large electro-magnetic power sources. She had been so frustrated at not being able to do anything more than sit quietly and watch everyone else work with all the electronics down. Ham had helped talk her out of her breakdown and none of the others had said much beyond checking that she was alright, but it had still been embarrassing to realize exactly what had happened.

Now in the kitchen with her brother as they prepared enough food for a small battalion of people Cali could barely remember the anxiety and stress from the day before. Over the last two and a half months she had gotten better at separating her emotions from the background anxieties and emotions that she had found herself stuck with since she had woken up. But she still missed the quiet moments with her brother from before he had been drafted. It was better now since they had come to Blood Gulch. She had been surprised by how laid-back Mont had been with the two of them being related. Siblings usually weren’t allowed to be stationed in the same system as each other and Mont was fine with them being in the same canyon. He had gone as far as to give them time to deal with sibling issues before it started to cause problems. Granted the man’s idea of ‘working issues out’ tended to involve firearms but it was the thought that counted.

Cali put the last dish onto its serving plate while Ham pressed the chime that would signal dinner across the gulch. Thankfully they didn’t have a cake in the oven, it wouldn’t have lasted with the clanging of pans that echoed loudly signaled that dinner would be ready in five minutes across the canyon. Cali met her brother’s glance with a nod, signaling that she would be fine moving the plates to the dining room while he changed into something more comfortable. The moment was over for now. She had hoped that they could do it more often when she got back and was put back on active duty. Something told her she wouldn’t have a chance to cook on the MoI.

The familiar pressure in her head was now a gentle hum as she moved the dishes to the dinning room. Thankfully Mass and Virg had set the table and brought up the folding tables they used for board games and poker as well as the piano bench from Red base and half a dozen chairs. It kind of reminded Kai of Thanksgiving back on the island. With the miss-matched silverware and plates and of course all the food.

Their newest recruits walked in first. Unsurprisingly, Tex had probably shown him the tunnel-networks that worked under the canyon. Most of the gulch was connected by the tunnel network, the bases had always been about six and a half feet above the caves that lie under the gulch. It had been easy to refurbish them into the Nerve-Center with hallways and other underground rooms. It was a good way to hide what was really going on in the bases. It was also where everyone had added in their own personal touches.

It hadn’t taken everyone long to start making the base their home. Mont and Rocco had finished building most of the Nerve-Center and hooking up VIC before Mass had come to the Gulch. By the time Penny, Doc, and Vern had gotten there they had finished the training courses, the primary and tertiary testing facility as well as set up most of the traps in the outer canyon. By the time Cali had arrived most of the rooms had been built as well as the infirmary. She had immediately called dibs on the kitchen and dining room and by the time her brother had gotten there she had the basic designs drawn up and supplies ordered. She and Ham had managed to install the entire thing in the week that had followed Virg and TJ’s arrival. As they finished up construction before TJ was even a month old, nobody had wanted a baby underfoot with all the construction going on. When they had finished Penny had insisted making the base a bit more homie for the baby, so they had added books and knickknacks to the shelves and end tables, some of Penny’s needle-point had been framed and hung on the walls. Vern had managed to find a retro polaroid camera so the walls had been covered with framed photos of each other and TJ soon after and, once TJ was able to sit up and start drawing, framed drawings done by TJ and the rest of Bravo joined the photos on the walls. The current masterpiece being displayed on the fridge was Ricco’s rendition of a robotic flower that might have been a blueprint he had spilled paint on, but TJ had liked it so much that he had stolen it off of the table and put it as high on the fridge as he could manage and once it was on the fridge it was only removed to be put on a frame.

“Is that real?” Washington asked, breaking Cali out of her musings. He was wearing a shirt that had belonged to Mass and a pair of pants that were Mont’s. Tex was in her usual jeans and t-shirt she usually wore during her visits, they had just ordered her a new stash and stocked them in her room. Both of them had damp hair, they must have hit the showers in Blue Base once they finished with paperwork. Tex had probably stolen clothes from the boys rooms while Washington showered and left it out for him.

“The stuff on the plate with roses on the side is vegan, if that’s what you mean. It needs to get it to Penny and Doc, for their date night.” Cali answered as she took in the man’s appearance. Washington stood at six-foot-five with blond hair that was lighter on the top of his head -maybe he was a swimmer- freckles dusted his face and arms, and he had a small, faded scar that was half-hidden in his left hairline. She had been right though; he had the makings of a beard growing trying to add years to a face that couldn’t be older than her brother. Which made him the third or fourth youngest member of Bravo, after Ricco, her, and maybe Ham if he was actually as young as he looked.

“I’ll bring it to them, Wash you help Cali bring the rest of the dishes out.” Tex volunteered. Taking the pan from her hands before Cali could tell them to sit down because they were guests and she had it covered. Tex was out the door heading to red base a second later.

Cali turned to Washington with an amused glimmer in her eyes. He just looked at her and then to the table that Penny claimed ‘could seat twenty-two and sleep half that number’ already laden down with food. “You mean there’s more?” When he looked back at her to ask his voice was soft. Cali couldn’t blame him for his shock, before Bravo had taken command of supply drops all that they had were the Meal, Ready-to-Eat garbage. If the MoI was run on that same crap than Alpha squad was in for a real treat tonight.

“Of course, there is more! We made a meal not some half-assed sandwiches!” She grabbed his arm and brought him into the kitchen so she could host while working. If you could grab the pitcher and fill it with water, I’ll finish up with the roast. Washington was stunned still when Cali let go of his arm. He was stuck staring at the assortment of food, there was mashed potatoes with gravy sitting next to it, fried chicken and pot-roast, roasted beef and cornbread as well as assorted fruits and vegetables and other dishes. It was cute he had probably not seen a kitchen with real food in a long time, and that was what it was, a kitchen not a galley or mess-hall. The counter tops were a nice-sturdy granite that could hold Ricco and the floors and cabinets were a strong dark wood that were easily cleaned but could withstand tiny claws and the occasional too hard of slamming from Mass. The appliances were up to date and the backsplash was a nice neutral stone that added a bit of color to the room. The only indication that this wasn’t just some kitchen from better homes and gardens were the digital locks on the cabinets and doors that acted as extra baby-proofing, the size of the dishes pilled in the sink and the just-off glimmer of the metal appliances that hinted of them being made of something stronger than stainless steel.

Cali had managed to grab two more plates by the time Washington snapped out of his daze and filled the water jug. He began to grab plates too when he came back in. That was promising, it either meant he had enough sense to not need detailed instructions when it came to tasks or that he was used to large mealtime gatherings, either way they were good traits to have on base. Washington started awkward small talk as they continued. Mostly asking about the food and what was in it.

Mont and Vern came in as she put down the still warm rolls. They had both changed out of their armor and into their usual clothes Mont in his army fatigues and Vern in his science-pun shirt and jeans. She caught Washington stumble a bit when he came in but made no other comment on Vern’s appearance now that his complete face was revealed. Another good sign, Vern was still jittery about his appearance nearly a year and a half after the incident. But he was getting better, he had started wearing short sleeves recently. It was a step in the right direction. Mont had placed his jacket over the chair at the head of the table in front of the kitchen door before he went into the kitchen to wash his hands Vern did the same, placing his coat to Mont’s right.

Mass and the rest of Alpha squad-Virg was right you could only say it so much without it sounding like some kind of battle of ego group- came in next. Mass in his usual graphic t-shirts he had gotten for Christmas, this time it was chinchilla wearing a party hat. Most of their visitors were still wearing their armor apart from Florida who was wearing an old grey shirt and slacks. Doc must have given him while they repaired his armor. Cali could see that his hand wasn’t wrapped so the kill switch must have worked on the soldering iron so the Kevlar and metal in his gloves hadn’t fused to his skin permanently. They all stared at them as Washington placed the last dish on the table.

South Dakota let out a snort at the apron Cali had thrown at him when he had started grabbing dishes to keep any leftover flour off him. The apron was Ricco’s, Penny had made it out of red fabric with brown trimmings and white block letters that read “Please do nothing to the cook.” “What would anyone want to do to the cook?” South asked snidely. Cali could see Washington tense up out of the corner of her eye.

Well she _was_ asking for it.

“What you wouldn’t want to kiss the cook?” Cali answered she stepped close and leaned into South Dakota’s space. The woman jerked back at the sudden invasion to take in Cali’s own appearance hair pulled back with a steel MAG-clip Mont had made her to keep her hair at the nape of her neck as she worked, and her own apron lightly dusted with flour and other ingredients. Cali could feel everyone take a second glance at Penny’s pink, frilly apron that read “Kiss the cook” in big cursive letters with a kiss mark over where Penny’s heart would be when he wore the apron but on Cali it was just a bit too low on her pec. The woman scoffed but said nothing more as Alpha squad moved to take seats around the table with no further comment. They all sat in a clump at the end, with Maine and Florida on the ends and Carolina at the head. Interesting.

Ham and 479er entered in time to see Cali smack York’s hand with a wooden spoon before he could grab a roll. “Wash your hands and wait for the others, if you need to do something to keep yourself occupied you can grab TJ’s highchair from the kitchen.” The way Alpha squad had acted by not grabbing anything but also not moving to help was telling too. Most people didn’t realize how their work habits bled into their home habits and vice versa. Since they didn’t wait for everyone that meant that they were either used to eating individually or they didn’t see a reason to wait for their teammates. The fact that no one moved to help her or even offer to meant that they had a set division of labor and didn’t cross it even if the other person was falling behind or struggling. And the fact that they didn’t continue conversation after Cali had shut down the teasing meant that they usually only communicated in insults and rebuttals. And with everyone wearing armor, even with the offer of normal clothes, it either meant that they didn’t trust Bravo, or they were doing some kind of power play to save face after today’s incident. It left a very interesting picture of Alpha squad as Vern went in to grab the highchair. Tex arrived soon after with TJ on her hip, he was playing with the Lone-Star necklace she had gotten at Christmas time. He was still wearing the “small but mighty” onesie. It was getting a little snug, they would have to make more soon, he was growing like a weed. Tex informed everyone that Ricco had taken over monitor duty, but he had taken a cy-burger with him, so he wouldn’t be joining them.

Virg and Connie came in last Connie looking disgruntled and Virg looking a bit too smug. They were both in their armor but Virg took the highchair and moved it to where he would be sitting next to Cali and across from Tex before he moved to the cabinet that was next to the entryway that led to blue base. He opened the top right door and pulled out his regular clothes for mealtime. They had a rule about wearing armor at the table, mostly because it was a pain to clean after you got anything in the Kevlar and if you had to scrub food off of the metal you could end up removing the protective paint. Cali looked at Connie, she was a bit tall, but she could probably fit into some of Ham’s clothes. The scoff she got when she opened her mouth shut Cali down before she could make her offer as Connie moved to sit where Washington had been a second ago, pushing him to the seat next to Virg. But Tex didn’t let Washington notice, she got him involved in distracting TJ as Mont placed the baby’s plate in front of him. They were trying to get the baby off of blood and onto solids after he had managed to eat Mass’s entire bowl of melting ice cream last week, it was slow going.

The buzzing in her head was back, but Cali just grinned. This would be fun. Ham and Vern were stuck in the same rut of “he’s not my boyfriend, even though I would like him to be but I’ll never admit it” they had been in since before they had come to the gulch. Cali and Virg hadn’t been able to get them out of it. If Washington was as good with kids as he seemed to be than Cali would try and push the two together. It wasn’t that Washington wasn’t a complete looker, with a great ass, but it was pretty rare to find someone _that_ attractive that didn’t demand that they kill TJ with fire or experiment on him. If Washington was the kind of man Cali thought, he was he would be a good partner for Virg, instead of a quick snack for her.

Virg entered soon after wearing an old Griffball shirt and jeans. He did a double take at Washington playing with his son, his expression was soft. They were going to be _so_ cute together. Cali would need to talk to Penny before she left to make sure he kept up the mood. Cali made one more trip for the frozen stuff before the meal began. Alpha squad removed their helmets but only placed them on the cabinets behind them when Mont gave them a rather pointed look at the lack of space on the table for them.

At least they had _that_ much sense.

“The Carnations are Kosher, the poppies are Halal, the Violets are vegan, the Gladiolas are gluten free, the Mums are vegetarian, the lilies are dairy-free, the petunias are pescatarian, and if it is plane its none of the above.” Ham announced but he only got more blank looks from _The Best Team™_ as Tex started to help herself to the plate of fried chicken. Cali sighed as she took over explaining each dish was made to suit particular lifestyle choices or dietary restrictions. The flowers let people know what was in what dish, so they didn’t have any issues with cross contamination or accidental poisoning. She wished Penny was here, he knew the flower colors and patterns better than her color-blind ass did.

“What the hell is pescatarian, halal, and kosher?” South Dakota demanded as the rest of Alpha began to look at the plates closer this time before they began to choose their meal. Cali answered the hostility with a straight face, “Kosher means that the food was prepared a specific way in accords with Jewish practices, Halal means the same thing but for Muslim beliefs, and pescatarian means that it is vegetarian but fish consumption is allowed in your diet.” She didn’t engage, from what Tex had told them and what they had seen first-hand South Dakota thrived on one-sided conflict, she enjoyed picking a fight with people she deemed weaker than her and watching them squirm, even going as far as to kick people when they were down. Cali would have to keep an eye on her while she and Vern were on the MoI or there might be trouble.

North Dakota interrupted whatever snarky comment his sister might have said next by asking for the salt. He had taken a bit of everything and had apparently filled his sister’s plate while she had been bitching. No dietary restrictions there. Florida kept to the petunia and other ‘green’ dishes but took several helpings. Wyoming did the same but the turkey leg indicated that it was a choice made in preference rather than dietary habits. Maine had helped himself to most of the beef and pork dished but Cali had heard him asking Ham if there were any eggs in the dishes before he took them. They would have to remember that for next time, his appetite was as hearty as Mass’ from the number of helpings he had. CT had stuck with a mixture of the Halal and vegitarian dishes, it was hard to tell if she actually enjoyed the meal with how tense her form was and how frequently she shot everyone glares. 479er only took from the poppie dishes. York went with a bit of everything and was actively encouraging Washington and everyone else who would listen to try everything he had. He was by far the most complementary of their guests, constantly complementing the food. Tex, as always, stuck to the kosher dishes but rather surprisingly so did Carolina. Washington had been the last to grab anything, mostly going off of Virg’s recommendations before York began to call out his own from down the table. The idle small talk from Bravo seemed to be the only conversation for a while; all of Alpha was quiet as they ate, York and Washington being the only exceptions.

“Where did you even get strawberries this big in the middle of nowhere?” York asked after he grabbed his second helping of fruit salad. A single strawberry had been cut on half and then divided into pieces the size of normal strawberries and put into the dish. They would need to eat the rest of the fruit for breakfast or it might go bad. “The Orion Sector, there is a farming colony with a special kind of soil half a parsec away from one of the SIM bases. The colony produces some of the biggest fruits and vegetables in the galaxy all natural, no radioactive materials or genetic modification necessary. Their planet has a special rotation that means that they can farm year-round. An average apple from that planet is the size of a beachball. They have been struggling lately with the war going on limiting their access to other planets. One of the SIM troopers in the quadrant is from there, he helped us get in contact with them and make a deal; they get good deals on the food they sell us, and we send large supplies to the rest of the bases and help provide fruits and vegetables to hundreds of bases across the galaxy without needing to find a shipping company.” Ham answered. There was a look of surprise across many faces at the announcement that the food was not from Earth.

“Why don’t you just go through the Project’s usual suppliers like the Mother of Invention?” Washington asked as he dodged the mashed potatoes TJ had managed to launch towards him with his spoon. Vern was the one to answer this time “Because those providers are over worked, it’s hard to get that big of shipments out to every military base in the galaxy, much less bases that the Project deems unimportant. They were missing deadlines and shipments so often that we nearly lost some bases. Even when we went to them about the problem in the beginning, they insisted that there was nothing they could do but they were still demanding full pay for it. So we found a better provider among the planets that SIM bases are nearby. SIM bases may be in the middle of nowhere, but they act as good places for some of the lesser known planets to do business. The UNSC limits on trading are killing more communities than most Covenant attacks. A lot of colonies are failing because they don’t have trading clearance to send or receive goods with other systems. When we started reaching out to colonies, we asked them if they would be open to sending supplies to other planets that couldn’t afford the prices of most providers, they were thrilled at the opportunity. We are able to feed nearly eight times the number of people using these secondary providers at half the price of the normal routes.”

They were stunned that that announcement. Were they really that surprised? They were at war, people were exploited in the name of safety all the time. Cali was just happy that they were in a position to make a difference, most of the SIM troopers were now. Since colony planets were using SIM bases as their main providers it meant that any one of the ‘main military providers’ that wanted to take out the competition had to deal with trigger happy soldiers technically licensed to kill under the impression that a ceasefire was underway and that it was imperative that these trade agreements work out. Of course, that was off the record because the paperwork requests were still going through the proper channels. Luckily VIC and Sheila had removed those bases from the list of “Places to Send Agents to Play Capture the Flag” that DC used or some people may have been in for a big surprise when they were attacked by SIM troopers convinced that they were evil agents trying to bring the civil war back.

Connie was the one to change the subject after too long of silence. “When you were talking to the Director and Counselor what did you mean by ‘tertiary testing facility?’ Isn’t there just the room you brought us all to? Or are there other bases off site that you use to test.” They were keeping the conversation firmly on Bravo, it was hard to tell if this was an interrogation or if they were just curious about their operations.

Mont answered that one. “No, we have three on base I built ‘em myself, but there’r a good number of SIM bases that act as testing spaces for equipment and dummy proofing before we give them to DC or the rest of the UNSC for general use. The ones we have here are specialized for working on the MoI or other space crafts. The primary facility is used for the construction and improvement process, it’s near one of the entrances to VIC’s cave, because its open air we use it when there is a big chance of things blowing up, after that we have the secondary one in red base you and your friend stumbled into, it runs hard light simulations so we don’t usually need a person present to test. It’s used when devices are less likely to explode and more likely to set on fire. The tertiary one you’ve all seen. It’s the one we use before we send things to the MOI, it’s all human testing, any EU’s that go through it need to be safe to use in an enclosed, pressurized container, and the T-3 simulates the MOI pretty well without risking y‘er oxygen supply.” That was strange, they did more than testing in there, and Mont loved to show off his big metal deathtraps almost as much as he enjoyed turning her toaster into a rocket launcher. Why wasn’t he sharing? A glance between Ham and Vern was all the sign she needed that they had caught on to the strange behavior too.

“Tex, Tex, DID THEY TELL YOU I MANAGED TO BEAT MY RECORD!?!?” Cali let out a smile at Mass’s outburst. You could always count on him to break the tension. Tex smiled from her seat as Mass looked at her with his big excited blue eyes. “No they didn’t, what is your new time?” “three days, twenty-three hours and thirty-four minuets!!!!” Mass shouted excitedly. “Mass that’s great. You have gotten so much better.” Tex responded her smile lighting up her face in a way that made her scar-less face more beautiful. Mass beamed like a spotlight at the praise. He was so proud of himself. He should be three months ago he had been at a quarter of that time.

“What record did he break that was nearly four days long?” North questioned. “I didn’t think most endurance tests went longer than a few hours.” He sounded lost, his blue eyes glimmered with confusion as he frowned that made the pale scar on his face twitch. “It’s not a competitive record, it’s a personal record of not setting a teammate on fire.” Virg answered, his shirt was half covered in food; TJ was much worse with more food having ended up on him rather than in him.

“You have to time how long it takes for him to set something on fire?” Wyoming’s voice was a pitch higher than it probably should have been, somewhere between startled and confused, and York started to choke on whatever he had been eating. It took a firm whack from Tex to clear his airways. “Of course not. We have a timer for when he sets a teammate on fire if we recorded how often he sets something on fire than we wouldn’t get past a day.” Mont responded, pride in his voice.

And he _should_ feel pride.

Mass had come a long way since he had entered the gulch, Mass had told them of how he had struggled with his injuries when he had entered. The damage that had taken him off the front lines had been pretty extensive especially detrimental to his response time and memory. Mont and Ricco had spent a lot of time working with him and then when the others arrived, they had joined in. They all had worked to get him to where he was now. Mass more than anyone had spent hours on end to improve. He had spent so much time focusing on improving his functions. He had come so far in such a short amount of time. They could put up with being set on fire a few times a month. Mass was a good teammate and an even better friend. They wouldn’t give him up for the world.

There was more stunned silence as Mass beamed. Cali stood up and grabbed the now empty pitcher. Time to change the topic before anyone could kill the mood. “Why? When was the last time any of _you_ set or were set on fire?” Everyone seemed to jump out of their stupor at her loud question. They got their heads firmly on their shoulders by the time Cali had returned with the filled pitcher. And Ham had signaled her that he would bring out desert soon.

“Ummm. I think I was set on fire the last time I was on a mission with the triplets.” Washington answered a bit hesitant as he heard the snickers from his teammates. We’ve heard about the triplets. It must have been some mission.” Virg stated, cutting of whatever scathing remark South Dakota was about to say. Contact, Virg was engaged!!! And judging by the constant eye contact and body language was interested in more than just Washington’s story!!!! And judging by the rising blush on their newest member the interest was mutual!!!!

“It hasn’t happened to me.” Carolina ended the moment with pride. Hadn’t anyone taught her to read a room?!? Ham entered the room with a platter piled high with still warm cookies, fresh fruits, and other deserts. To hear Carolina’s proud proclamation f having never set any one on fire or been set on fire.

Ham leveled his best Older Brother Deadpan Stare™ towards her. “Lady you need to get out more.” He declared as he stood next to Mont with his platter weighed down with goodies. Cali caught York practically salivating at the sight.

Caroline let out an offended scoff at the same time TJ let out a loud yawn. That was her cue. The PG show was ending, everyone had done their own evaluations of Tex’s team it time to get TJ ready for bed. Then the fun could begin.

Cali stood up and grabbed the baby who was beginning to nod off into his food. It was supposed to be Virg’s turn to tuck his son it, but he should spend some time with their new recruits and Cali wouldn’t get the chance to spend time with her nephew for a while.

As she picked him up TJ was just starting to rub his eyes, smearing potatoes across his face. He would need a bath before he was laid down and Cali would probably have to feed him before he fell asleep. “Alright bedtime for baby!”

TJ let out a disapproving groan, he wanted to stay up and watch the lights. He could see them in the morning. After all the excitement of today, and the very little naptime he had managed to actually get in, it was time for him to sleep.

“If you all want to move outside for desert and coffee, I’ll put him down and check on Ricco and join you after that. York looked absolutely heartbroken at the declaration that he would have to wait for desert. The others seemed to jump at the offer. “Sure, I’ll do the dishes Mass how about you and Ham show our guests out?” Virg seemed to have dealt with their guests enough for the day since he immediately took dish duty Vern looked up in surprise as Virg started to take plates and glasses from the table. Cali didn’t blame him; it was Vern’s turn to do dishes Virg only willingly did chores if he was trying to avoid something much worse. Mass, as always, took his given task with a smile and unmatched exuberance.

As Mass began to usher their guests out Mont signaled for everyone to stay for a minute, Tex gave the recruit a kind smile as he waited for them. The resounding crash gave them a reason to send Washington to look after Mass and his teammates. “You make sure Carolina’s fire streak isn’t broken. I’ll catch up when the dishes are moved. If Mass does set someone on fire, there are extinguishers every three feet VIC will point you to the closest one and you can put them out.” Tex informed her new friend with a gentle shoulder pat.

Washington seemed to hesitate for a moment longer before another crash followed by South Dakota swearing caused his eyes to widen and Washington bolted out to see what was going on. They all stood until the lights dimmed enough to signal that their guests were out of hearing range.

“What’s up?” Virg was the one to break the tension first, everyone took a seat as the doors hidden in the dining room entryways began to close, giving them some privacy. Ham placed the platter on the table the clang sent a signal to VIC that he could turn off any listening devices other than his own and to patch through Ricco, Doc and Penny. When the doors closed and three of the twelve pictures that decorated the wall changed into images of Ricco, Penny and Doc, they knew everyone was present and Mont began the meeting.

“Someone tried to wirelessly access VIC’s control panel while we were dealing with Alpha this morning.” Mont answered, his voice was stern but soft, to prevent others nearby from hearing or, more likely, to keep from disturbing TJ’s sleeping form.

The buzzing was back.

That wasn’t good. Regardless of how recently any of them had heard from VIC if someone was trying to break his system then they had to move quickly, or they could lose him. VIC was the person they trusted to safeguard all their files, from the supply shipments, to Covenant movements, to mission reports, VIC was the one that kept the digital copies safe. He ensured that they had up-to-date copies in hidden flash drives and Cali’s contact in the UNSC could access the info when specific situations occurred. He took that job very seriously. He would rather self-destruct than give info he was entrusted with away. If VIC was hacked, then he would self-destruct before he could give away even the most menial info away and they would lose him before they could try and save him.

“They didn’t get very far.” Mont reassured them when he saw their expressions. “VIC noticed he was being hacked and cut the feed before whoever it was could crack the first firewall.” Mont continued. The lights flashed as VIC signaled that he was alright.

The pressure lessened but it was still there.

“But the timing is too convenient for it to be a coincidence. The Director and Counselor reveal our existence and the second we get everything back online someone tries to hack our mainframe.” Ham finished. His arms crossed over his chest. He had the same look on his face he usually had when he met someone new, he was trying to figure out where their security risk was coming from. Vern shifted. “That means that whoever it was had to have been just informed of our existence.” Doc ended the ‘you can’t hack the mainframe’ debate before it could start. His speaker cracking a bit from remnants of their solar storm.

Tex shifted, clearly uncomfortable. “We don’t think it was you Tex, if you wanted to break into our system there were better opportunities to do so and VIC would have shared the info with you willingly. But If you have any idea how many people the Director and Counselor informed of our existence when they gave you this mission then we could narrow down the number of suspects.” Mont placed a comforting hand over her arm. They trusted Tex, she had proven herself just like everyone in this room did. Just like they were all sure Agent Washington would in the coming months.

“I don’t know for sure how many people could have known in the last twenty-four hours. They were arguing about you in the hallways leading up to the briefing room, that’s not exactly the most secure area on the MoI. But at the very least all of Alpha Squad, and over a dozen techs heard the Director and Counselor divulge your existence, that’s not including if anyone was able to find your files or emails and find VIC that way.” Virg gently placed a hand over Tex’s own as she began to lower her head.

“You aren’t at fault for giving us away Tex, DC was the one who decided to share our existence with the MoI. Besides we would have been discovered some day, regardless of how careful we were being. At least this way if we get on top of this then we can control what info gets out.

Tex seemed to perk up at Virg’s words. She still took too much responsibility on herself, but atleast she was getting better at recognizing when she shouldn’t.

“As it stands, we should keep an eye on Alpha squad. They were the ones who would have been able to access our operations with how close they have been. VIC will keep everyone on record but unless they are in the habit of monologuing, he probably won’t catch much. Keep track of how they act and what they ask. Report it to me, Vern or Ham. But don’t be obvious, we don’t want to let this rat know we are onto them. Ricco, if you could go to VIC’s terminal tonight and beef up his security, just in case this is an issue with our wireless security. Cali Vern if you see anything suspicious but can’t get away to talk to someone send what you see to Tex’s bracelet and we’ll look into it from our end when Alpha leaves.” Mont was quick in his orders and everyone nodded at the orders. They would be on guard; these people may be their teammates, but they had threatened one of their own. All bets were off.

“What about Mass sir?” Vern asked “Should we let him know?” Let’s keep ‘im focused on distracting Alpha, he’s still working on keeping secrets. Tell ‘im that we are watching them for mistakes in their armor if he asks, it will have ‘im focusing on the team but if ‘yer overheard or he talks nothing will be given away.” Everyone nodded at that. Cali suddenly looked up. Realization dawning on her.

“Is that you giving us permission to drive them crazy Commander?” Cali found herself asking as she met eyes with Virg.

“That is me ordering you agent.” Cali let herself match Mont’s grin as TJ yawned in her arms.

This would be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think?  
> Please let me know if there is anything you want to see or anything you want me to cover!!!!  
> Let me know of any theories you have, I probably wont tell you if you are right but it might give me ideas!!!  
> Thank you all for reading I'll see you soon!


	13. Let the Chaos Unfold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone gets to see some one in action as things start to wind down and the sun sets. Find out what kind of shenanigans can happen between Alpha and Bravo in the span of an hour in Blood Gulch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is safe and healthy. I am alive, I did not contract anything and I present you with the next chapter. I am so sorry for the delay and I hope that this chapter makes up for it.  
> As always thanks to Jade, or rather Para as they are going by now for listening to me brain storm and talk through ideas for this chapter.  
> Please read and enjoy

Ham hadn’t known what to expect when they had finished up the meeting. Maybe everything on fire or a major crater in the canyon, or even Mass hugging the giant ship that had gained sentience in the ten minutes they had left him alone. You know, the usual level of insanity that was his life now.

So, when he stepped out of the base to see what kind of damage he had to clean up after Mass and their… guests… he was pleasantly surprised to find the damage was minimal. Ham fully stepped into the setting sunlight to take in the scenery. He might as well as enjoy the sunset for a bit.

The light from the setting sun cast vibrant colors across the sky and painted the canyon in reds, oranges, yellows, and greens. It reminded him of the drawings Kai would do when she was little. There was no rhyme or reason to the color patterns. The grass was pink, the clouds were green, and the mountains were stripped orange and red, it was just how life was here.

“Ahem”

Ham made sure to record the image for Penny using Vern’s new sunglass cameras; Penny would whine if they didn’t get him an image for the “romantic sunset collage” he was putting together in the guest bathroom, and Vern would want to know if they survived the multiple electronic failures they had to deal with the last few days.

“Ah-Hem”

Ham was sure to catch the sunlight as it reflected off the canyon rim. He had listened to Vern and Penny bickering about the photogenic qualities of that angle three days ago. He figured that it was probably worth it to get a picture to prove Vern wrong.

AHEM!!!

Ham finally turned toward the disturbance he had been trying to ignore. There in the middle of the clearing between Red Base and the Nerve Center clumped together in a pile was the source of his annoyance. A frankly cartoonish pile of the visiting Freelancers with Mass at on top of the dogpile, happily humming to himself as he played with his newest puppy. Agent’s Maine, Carolina, and Wyoming were on the bottom followed by Florida, Connie, York, South and North Dakota stacked on top of them.

Mass was practically sitting in Washington’s lap at the top of the pile as he helped him play with the newest addition to the “Hunting Pack” a Belgian Malinois puppy Mass had tried to name Bagel but Tex had overruled and dubbed her Roxie. Roxie was currently playing tug of war with the blond’s borrowed shirt as Mass cheered her on. 479er had gone back to her plane for one last flight check before lights out and had apparently tapped out before the chaos had started. Good for her.

Carolina had been the one who had tried to get his attention. She was probably glaring at him through her visor, but Ham had put up with way too many empty visors staring at him since he was drafted to be afraid of a faceless woman glaring behind a cracked helmet. Sure, this woman was able to go toe to toe with Tex, but she also felt the need to hide behind her armor during meals and attack unarmed toddlers.

In all honesty their brief time together during dinner had told him more than the creepy psych-evals the Counselor had sent them. She wasn’t likely to ask for help unless she absolutely had to, preferring to do everything herself. If she was going to hurt him, there wasn’t anything that he could do to stop her once she had her mind set on something. If she would do it after he rescued her from the ‘cuddle pile’ Mass had trapped them into. He also knew that if she did pick a fight and he wanted to rile her up or distract her all he needed to do was point out her flaws or compare her to Tex and she would leave to preserve her pride. Easy as that.

Ham made sure to take a few pictures for the others. No reason he should have to suffer through the inevitable beating with nothing to show for it.

“HEY ASSHOLE ARE YOU GOING TO GET US OUT OF HERE OR NOT” and that would be South Dakota losing her temper. If she was as bad as Vern had said he felt a pattern was forming. It seemed like everyone on this team had a massive temper, they just let South Dakota do the screaming for them.

“Why, Mass seems to think you need to hug out your differences.” Ham took a slow walk around the pile of freelancers. “What did you do to make Mass think you needed immediate cuddle therapy anyway?” Ham asked after seeing that no one was really injured, just a little squished. Luckily, Florida, Mass and Washington were at the top and not being crushed under the combined weight of the power armor.

“Where are the others?” Carolina grounded out. He could hear her teeth gnashing together.

Wow, whatever happened must be _very_ embarrassing for _that_ kind of reaction.

“Finishing up for the night.” He deflected easily, no need to alert anyone of their movements, even if it was mostly just ensuring that everything was secure from the outside. Ham distracted any further questions by gently probing York with his foot, he didn’t move. He was out cold, again. Tex had mentioned in her last transmission that he was still on bedrest from the explosion that had taken his eye and Virg had said that he had been out cold when Alpha was messing around on the training courses.

What was he even doing here? If he had _just_ been taken off bedrest than shouldn’t he be in physical therapy like Cali had been? He had lost an eye, and been on bedrest since then, meaning it would take some time for him to recover from the loss of depth perception and new blind spot and regain the full ability of his muscles that hadn’t been used since he had first been admitted to the Medbay.

So **_why_** was he here instead of recovering far away from the insanity?

South Dakota let out another loud curse and threatened him, Mass, and Washington with bodily hard.

Relatively speaking…

Ham sent out a call to the others, reassuring everyone that no immediate medical attention was needed, that Mass had just enforced ‘cuddle therapy’ on the freelancers and asking if someone could grab a few lawn chairs for the currently unconscious freelancer. Ham could hear Tex growling about how stupid her teammate was and how she was going to stick him in armor lock until he recovered before she announced that she would be up with Cali and the chairs soon.

Once he had full confirmation that a rescue party was on the way Ham decided it was time to let the freelancers up. If he timed this right he could get out of both the fight and training if Carolina gave him a good shiner.

First was getting Mass, Washington, and Roxie off the pile. It was easy enough to do with a treat and dog toy. Mass jumped right off with Roxie pulling Washington, quite literally, by the seat of his pants. As Mass fed Roxie the treat to get her to let go of Washington Ham began to unload the people off of York who had woken up to the light tapping on his vid-screen. York tried to refuse Ham’s help but he leveled his best “Big Brother Look” that always had his sister sitting down when she tried to push herself too hard.

“Look, this is the second time you’ve done this. I’m the biggest advocate for naps in the universe but if you’re gonna do this then you need to get out of your armor and into something that isn’t going to make you worse. Take it from me after you sleep in your armor for a few days after an injury it doesn’t help recovery at all. You’re safe here, you don’t need to wear that.” Ham knew he was laying it on a little thick but Tex had bee a wreck about his injury after it had happened. She had blamed herself over it and if he got worse than she would beat herself up over it even more. That and Carolina seemed to be just as fixed on him, probably dating or at least fucking, level of worried. That bought him enough time to direct him to a bathroom and a spair set of Mass’ civies that would probably fit him. What was with this team and freakishly tall members?

“Ahem” And there it was, Ham turned to face the inevitable combatant.

Carolina was close enough that she was practically in his face. Not a big surprise. She was straight forward in her confrontations and wasn’t looking anywhere but him. She reminded Ham of Tex when they had first met. Straight forward and ignorant of all else but her goal. In this case, hurting him.

Ham could feel her grab him by the collar of his shirt. He just needed one good hit and he would be down for the next few days. It would give him some time to look into who might have a motive to get into their database. If it looked nasty enough then they might get a little more time to work on the E-Units with one of their engineers down.

“Carolina leave him alone; he still owes me a sparring session before the sun goes down.” Tex called out as she moved to set up a lawn chair.

Speak of the devil and she shall appear. _Shit_ , he hadn’t timed that right. Tex and Cali appeared in the doorway thirty seconds too soon, interrupting the fight _before_ it could get started. The two were carrying lawn chairs as asked and had changed from their original attire. Tex had thrown her favorite leather jacket over her usual t-shirt to account for the cooling temperature and Cali was wearing a pair of nude leggings and a sleeveless summer dress that fell to just above her knees and had a high, fashionable high neck with a cut out that dipped down almost to her navel. The dress had been made by Penny when he had started to experiment with mission fabric, the colors seemed to match the setting sun, shifting as she moved.

Uh-oh they were in for a LOT of flirting if she was wearing that dress.

Ham let out a groan, Carolina had dropped him flat onto his ass and Ham decided to flop the rest of the way down like he used to do during gym class in high school before asking for another rain check. Dam his dignity he was tired, besides the more he was underestimated the more he was ignored. Just the way he liked it.

The others began to appear from the bases as if they were waiting for Tex to break up the fight. Mont was practically euphoric at the prospect of watching Ham get the snot beat out of him and the others were setting up blankets and chairs like this was a picnic.

Ok maybe they did eat and fight for picnics, but _this_ wasn’t worth the effort. Ham didn’t want to do it so he was just going to lay here and take it like a bitch.

Cali flashed a smile when her eyes connected with Ham’s, a mischievous glint in her eye. She had realized his failed plan and what his back up plan was. But she seemed to have something up her metaphorical sleeve instead. He knew that she was plotting, and he didn’t want to know what her plot was.

“It’s ok, I’ll fight her. I’ve been itching for some action.” Cali had turned towards them with a big grin on her face. Ham flinched, that was not a good idea, Cali tended to go overboard when they faced off and Doc hadn’t given her an ok for anything at Tex’s level yet for that exact reason. She was set to be back on duty in two weeks but facing off against Tex would be pushing it, even if she was on regular duty.

Luckily, he didn’t have to worry about her. Tex grabbed Cali by the scruff of her neck like an unruly kitten and began to berate her. “Nope, you’re still injured Cali. I can take on Ham until you recover.”

Tex dropped her unceremoniously into one of the lawn chair recliners that they had brought up. Cali had let out an “eep” at the action but was laughing a second later as Roxie jumped on her and began to lick her face.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, isn’t it getting Dark?” Ham heard the new guy, Washington, ask. He seemed to be glancing from him to Tex like they were the issue instead. At least _someone_ cared. Ham shot a glare at the still giggling Cali who met his gaze with a grin and firm bird.

The new guy was proving he was good at diplomacy. He was trying to diffuse a fight before it started by listing reasons other than potential bodily harm to both parties. That would be helpful in the future, but in this case, it wasn’t as effective as it could be.

“We have enough time; the sunset should last for another hour and a half at least.” Virg informed Washington as he pulled him aside to make room for the sparing platform Mont was setting up.

“We should be done before the sun goes down, but just in case Vern can you grab the lights from the storage shed? They should be by the training dummies and the rubber bullets.” Mont called from where he was drawing the ring to be the regulation size for a tournament.

Vern let out a call of agreement as he left to do just that. Ham sighed. There wasn’t any getting out of this and Ham knew it. Oh well, if Cali made the right calls for this maybe it would be worth it.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“You guys want to make bets?” Virginia had called out to them. Everyone from Bravo had gathered by California’s lawn chair. The adorable puppy, Roxie had stopped licking her and had settled for laying on her stomach to keep her in place. California had apparently started to set up a betting pool on a chalkboard; bets were apparently being made using chores and the occasional candy bar as money.

Wash wanted nothing more than to crawl into his bunk and sleep after the entire debacle he had just endured. If he had known it would be that bad, he would have helped Texas- Tex with the chores. He was sure South would be out to get him in the coming weeks because of what had happened to get them in that predicament. But in his defense going out and exploring the base wasn’t a good idea! Tex had warned him of the excessive traps placed near the canyon’s rim and outside the boundaries, they didn’t bother anyone with clearance but they could kill an intruder if they weren’t careful and since none of them were plugged into the normal power grid they were unaffected by whatever had hit that had caused all electronics on the planet to go haywire. So it was perfectly understandable that he would argue against trying to find any more of Bravo’s “secret training grounds” whatever that meant. At least he had gotten to play with a puppy. It might not have been any of Loki’s kittens, but it had been the first time Wash had gotten to hold a small, fluffy animal in years. It had been therapeutic.

And if he was being honest it was worth the beating he would probably get from Carolina when he got back to the Mother of Invention.

Virginia grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the group. Wash could feel another blush rising as Virginia pointed out the different ways to make bets. There were dozens of different ways to place bets. You could bet on the victor, time until victory, time to first foul, how many fouls per person, fouls total, the list went on.

Most bets had already been placed under “Returning Champ” with time ranging from one minuet to an hour with most of fouls placed on “Challenger” Was this guy Hampshire really that bad at following rules?

York was the first one to jump in. He had returned wearing a shirt that said “Nap, Build, Destroy, Repeat” in the same blue as Massachusetts armor and a pair of jeans. His scar was healing but still a jagged and angry red color that made him look too pale. York ignored the worried glances from everyone and quickly placed his bet on Tex in five minutes no fouls from her before he plopped down into another lawn chair. Others were quick to follow, CT tried to get the others to spill on how the last fight had gone but everyone was tight lipped.

“How do we know Ham won’t just throw the fight after a minuet so he can can take the winnings?” CT finally stated.

“Because half of the bets go to the winner.” California answered, not looking up from writing down the bets placed. CT tried for a few minutes longer, enough time for the others to return from getting the lights and place their own bets, Vern on the “champ in ten minutes, challenger on five fouls, champ with one and Massachusetts being put down for a draw. When CT tried to get them to spill on the last fight, she was told that it was just for fun not a competition, and not to think too hard on it. Finally, CT let out a growl and bet on Tex winning in ten minutes and Hampshire fouling three times.

Tex had stripped her leather jacket off and took an E-staff Montana offered her. Ham had done the same, revealing what appeared to be tribal tattoos that covered his right arm and torso. He had grabbed a similar E-staff and was experimentally swinging it around.

Everyone was gathered in a clump away from the ring drawn in the dirt. Most were looking at the blackboard but California was looking at the two prepping for the fight, Tex in particular. She looked like she was trying to figure out Tex.

“And California? What’s your bet?” Wash surprised himself by talking out loud. She had been the only one that hadn’t made a bet yet. She looked at him surprised, for a minuet before looking back at Tex. That calculating look was on her face again.

“Tex will last twenty minutes until Ham manages to catch her off balance and win, she will foul maybe five times and if she manages to catch Ham off guard he’ll foul once to guard.”

“What? You really think he can beat her?” Wash’s voice was incredulous as he stared the girl down before glancing at the combatants. Tex was taking a few experimental swipes and jabs at the air, each was swift and viscous. Hampshire was going through motions, as if he were doing katas with the staff.

“If they were fighting using the MoI combat rules, no. Ham wouldn’t last five minutes. But here? Tex is playing Ham’s game by Ham’s rules, it might be close, but she won’t win. Tex has been close before, but she still has a lot to learn. Maybe when she can beat me at this, she will be able to give him a much closer run for his money but until then she still needs to get used to the rules and motions before she can beat Ham.” Cali hadn’t looked at any of them as she spoke quietly, only looking at the two combatants stretching. It didn’t look like either had heard her declaration.

After a few more minutes of stretching they were ready. Montana had drawn a box in the ground to serve as the boundary and a few lights had been set up to properly illuminate the area.

Finally they were ready. Tex and Hampshire were facing each other with Vermont standing in the middle. Vermont began to lay out the rules, this was a “tournament style” fight, following the “usual rules” if your stepped out of bounds you automatically lost, if you lost your staff and it went out of bounds than you couldn’t retrieve it, if you were pinned with no way up you lost. Penalties would be announced with a bell that would ring for each penalty, after each penalty occurred then both combatants would reset and begin again, if you reached ten penalties then you lost. Penalties could be awarded if…

Wash stopped paying attention at that point in favor of examining Hampshire. He was younger than Wash had expected, maybe even younger than himself. At first glance he seemed to be the farthest thing from a military man. His hair was longer than regulation, starting to reach his chin but not quite long enough to be pulled back just yet. He was shorter than most military men Wash had seen, standing at 5 feet 11 inches and he was heavier than Wash had ever seen another soldier look. The tattoos that covered his body reminded him of a character from old movies his dad used to watch in the sci-fi channel, they were almost like tribal tattoos he had seen in old textbooks, he looked like he was ready for a demonstration in a museum on precolonial cultures of the pacific.

The starting bell shocked Wash out of his observations with a jerk.

Wash watched as Tex struck first, aiming for the man’s core but was swiftly deflected by her opponent. She made another move, this time for his left flank but again she was countered. This continued again and again each time Tex was getting increasingly frustrated finally she managed to get a hit by aiming for the man’s head. A buzzer went out nearly causing Wash to jump. Foul, no head shots.” California called out as Hampshire got up, shook the stars out of his eyes and took another ready stance. “Breath, don’t let your opponent get into your head. Focus on not telegraphing your motions before you move” Hampshire told Tex as they looked at each other. His words seemed to have an impact on Tex because she visible relaxed into her ready stance.

The bell went off again to signal the fight resuming. This time Tex wasn’t the only one attacking. Hampshire was giving as good as he got this time. The differences didn’t end there, the fight was no longer silent, Hampshire was calling out corrections to Tex on her attacks as she moved. But the most shocking difference was that not only was he fighting back but his attacks were connecting. “Watch yourself Tex, you’re dropping your left guard” Hampshire called out, emphasized with a swift hit to the same undefended side. Tex let out a few more attacks before she managed to get another hit in. Unfortunately, it was accompanied by another buzzer, this time she had thrown her staff to knock Hampshire’s own out of his hand.

The buzzer went off three more times before Tex found her beat and was able to fight back without the penalty buzzer going off.

They battled hard, trading blows, blocking, and countering moving faster and faster as both found their rhythm together. It might not be at the same intensity that York, Wyoming, and Maine had when they had faced off against Tex but it was powerful and precise in a way similar to Carolina, but there were jokes, pointers, and even teasing insults during this battle.

Finally, Hampshire managed to get the upper hand. Tex had delivered too hard of an upward strike and Hampshire managed to deliver a downward hit that pushed her back and knocked her staff out of her hand and beyond the ring. Two more quick motions and Tex was on her back with the staff pointed at her chest.

Hampshire had won.

Cali had been right. Tex had lasted twenty minutes and thirty seconds before Hampshire had won. Alpha was flabbergasted, the second strongest fighter, the woman that had faced against Maine, Wyoming, and York in a three on one battle with electro-staffs and won; had just lost to the twentieth slot.

You’ve gotten better.” Ham informed Tex, moving the staff away and offering his hand to help her up. Tex gave a long look at his offered hand before letting out a sigh and taking it. “I lasted longer this time.” She panted out as Ham pulled her up. “You did, you lasted twice as long as the first time we faced off.” Ham exhaled, just as winded as Tex. It had been a good fight, she hadn’t needed many pointers or adjustments as last time, but she still needed to watch her left side, she left it open way too often.

Ham offered her an exhausted smile. “Thank you for not kicking me when you realized you weren’t going to win this time.” Ham thanked her as they moved over to the cheering section.

Tex let out a laugh as she they approached the cheering members of Bravo and her still stunned team. “Oh, don’t be a weenie. It wasn’t that bad. You were able to walk it off.” Tex had grabbed Hampshire’s arm as he stumbled.

“Maybe but the first time you hit me I was convinced you had killed me with one hit.” Ham answered, moving to sit next to Cali and taking the offered bottle of water, Tex did the same.

“Thanks, what’s the plan for the rest of the night?” Tex threw Ham’s shirt at him, letting it smack him in the face, and causing him to fall back into Roxie. The puppy apparently didn’t like that her nap was disturbed and responded with a bite into his pants.

Mass let out a cheer as Hampshire and Vermont tried to remove the growling puppy. Montana was sighing about Roxie having the right idea but wrong timing before he pulled her off with the help of a dog treat.

“Don’t know, we should get one more lightshow later tonight before lights out, that will last until daybreak, but until then we don’t have anything else, we really can’t do much until all the electronics are verified tomorrow.” Virginia was the one to answer this time, shooting a glance towards the stunned freelancers.

“Are they going to be doing that the rest of their visit? It was funny the first few times but now its just getting annoying.”

That snapped Wash out of his stupor, he could feel himself blush again. He was really regretting not wearing his helmet right now.

“Ummmm how about a movie? Tex you said that they had a bunch of old movies here right?” Wash did his best to recover from the embarrassment of having been gaping a second ago. Wash could hear Carolina and South scoff at the prospect and was preparing for the reprimand we would receive.

“Great idea, the old projector should still be good, and Vern and I managed to put together “Tex’s Greatest Hits” last week, we can watch that without TJ running in.” California announced. Once again cutting off any scathing remarks. Moving to stand she and the others began to call out jobs as Ham took her spot on the chair to rest.

Suddenly there was another burst of activity as people began to leave in different directions to set up for an impromptu movie night. There was a moment where it looked like everyone would protest but it was quickly ended when York asked for popcorn and the deserts that Hampshire and California had made. The rest of Alpha seemed to finally accept that they were stuck here until lights out and began to take seats.

This was going to be weird.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“You good?” Tex had pulled Wash away from the others on their team as Virginia went off with California to grab the sheet for the video. It was the first time all mission someone from his own team had asked if he was alright. Granted North and York had been in a worse state than him; but having Tex ask was somehow different than the others. It wasn’t like he was about to be carted off to the infirmary like it was with Maine or North, nor was it like he would be teased or berated with York, South or 9er or flat out ignored like if it was Carolina, Wyoming, or the medics on the Mother of Invention, believing that they knew what the problem was before he did. Tex seemed like she was willing to wait for an answer and listen to him the whole way. It was like how his mother and sisters had acted when he had hurt himself as a child. It was weird, but nice.

The same weird-nice this entire mission had been if Wash was being honest. These people seemed to be on a different wavelength from what Wash was used to, they were rude, obnoxious, made fun of each other, and called each other names, but it wasn’t the same as when his team did it. There wasn’t the same heat to it compared to when South or Carolina or even North and York when they spoke.

“I’m alright, it’s just… different.” Wash finally responded looking at the armor less Tex in the eyes, hoping she didn’t take his hesitance as a lie. Thankfully Tex just smiled at him and began to lead him back towards the group. “Yea, everyone takes some getting used to, but they are good people once you get past their…” Tex stopped for a second apparently looking for the right word.

“Insanity?” Wash flinched, that had slipped out, even if he had said it with a quiet tone, he was afraid of insulting her friends after she had shown him such kindness.

He shouldn’t have been so afraid, she had simply laughed again and pulled him into an one armed hug. “Exactly! But don’t worry it gets easier as time goes on.” Tex reassured him

Wash doubted it, if this was tame, he felt that he would never get used to it. However, after today, Wash had a feeling he would get used to the insanity of Bravo before he got used to seeing the woman smile and laugh so much. After months of staring into her blank visor and ominous armor it was hard to link to the woman before him dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with a big grin on her face.

Tex seemed to be able to read his mind because she tightened her grip before she let go, turning to face him and grin. “I’ll be here with you every step of the way, and so will Virg.” Wash felt himself flush again. The… attention that Agent Virginia had given him had been a whole new level of strange. If Wash hadn’t known any better, he would have thought the agent was… flirting.

“Yea, right.” Wash found himself saying out loud instead of just agreeing with her like he would have done if it was York. Wash regretted it immediately, Tex seemed to take that as a challenge and her grin widened as she glanced around them. Her eyes seemed to lock onto her target because she flashed him a sly look before grabbing his arm to keep him from running away.

“Hey Virg, you want to help Wash take care of the refreshments while I take care of the tarp?” Wash felt himself blush again; he could hear California snicker as he looked anywhere but Virginia. If he had looked, he would have seen the man had a matching blush rising across his darkened skin.

“Sure Tex.” Virginia finally managed to let out as he threw his half of the tarp over the still laughing California. She stumbled under the weight for a few seconds before she just collapsed backwards laughing. Her legs, the only thing not covered by the fabric tarp, were moving with her laughter.

Wash decided at that moment as Tex practically shoved him into Virginia before running off to rescue California from the big white tarp that, even if it killed him, he would get even. He didn’t know how, but just like with his sisters and their pranks he would pay her back for that.

As Virginia helped Wash steady himself their eyes met before both of them looked away.

He would get her back, whether or not he thanked her afterwards was yet to be determined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, yea its been a while. As most of you know COVID sucks and most schools had to move online, mine included. Then there was a whole issue of finding out that I can graduate earlier than expected if I took summer classes and then registering for said classes. I know I said that I would spend this summer writing but all my classes start in the next week or two and end before July fourth so I might be a bit longer hiatus when classes start. I'll play this by ear. But as you may already know from what I posted before this I have been writing clips for the sequel and have the ending of this figured out. Getting there is just the issue.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed the most recent chapter and that it was worth the wait. Let me know what you thought, any spelling or grammar errors or even theories on what you want or thing should happen next.
> 
> Please be safe out there everyone.  
> Until Next Time ;)  
> ~Spazz signing out <3


	14. How the Fire Started

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are winding down in Blood Gulch but were things always this chill.
> 
> Of course not!!!! Tune in to see how the flaming dumpsterfire first started!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!  
> First of all I would like to thank everyone who read, kudos, and reviewed. You really helped me through this summer of studying!!!!! I hope everyone is well and safe.
> 
> Am I two months late?  
> Yes.  
> Is this the longest chapter I have written?  
> Yes it is almost as long as half the story so far. Excluding lab reports and term papers it probably is the longest thing I have written.  
> Was this the hardest chapter I have ever written?  
> Yes.  
> Is it because I wrote twelve consecutive fight sequences for this chapter?  
> Probably.  
> Was worth the wait?  
> Let me know!

Texas had traveled with the Director to an undisclosed location. They had left the Mother of Invention several hours ago in a small plane Texas had piloted herself. The planet wasn’t familiar, not that anything was familiar to Texas since her accident had robbed all of her memories from her.

All that was left was instinct, which was the only reason Freelancer kept Texas, even in her damaged state.

During the flight, the Director had briefed her. He informed Texas that she would be facing off against what the Counselor had dubbed “a more balanced team” in an collection of combat exercises similar to what she had gone through when she had first arrived on the Mother of Invention.

It was Texas’s first time in combat since she had faced off against Maine, Wyoming, and York. An encounter that had ended with disastrous results.

Texas had placed herself under self-imposed leave since she had been released by the medics the day after what Texas had come do call “The Accident.” The Counselor had been a surprising source of information since the Accident. He had given her updates on York’s status after he had caught her lurking outside the medbay in camouflage mode... eight times.

York was still in a medically induced coma. He had been in surgery for five days straight, the doctors working around the clock to remove the shrapnel from his body. Texas’s lockdown marks had protected his hands and legs, not his torso or head. She hadn’t even been able to land a hit to protect his vital organs. Texas had failed in protecting a teammate, even if he hadn’t officially been one yet.

Sure, Texas had helped him keep all of his fingers and toes, but the doctors hadn’t been able to save his eye. They weren’t even sure that they had gotten all of the shrapnel out of his chest and legs. What had she accomplished if she hadn’t even been able to protect him from a grenade meant for her?

Texas had even overheard the doctors telling the Counselor that they would keep York in a coma for at least another week so he could heal without trying to leave and hindering his recovery. York would be looking for a long recovery period. He would have to go through a few more surgeries as well as a ton of physical therapy. They would probably need to give him some cybernetics as well; to accommodate for his loss of depth perception and vision range.

And it was all Texas’s fault.

Texas was brought out of her thoughts by the heavy steel door opening. The two ton hunk of metal creaked and protested the action. Finally moving to allow light to flow through the dim hallway she was in.

The Director had left her alone after they arrived to prep for combat. The Counselor hadn’t been there for their trip from the Mother of Invention. He had left the day before to check on the team she would face. The Counselor had stated that this should go better than the last combat exercise on the Mother of Invention. He had all but promised that “his team” would be better that York’s team.

They had to be something special if both the leaders of Project Freelancer were willing to leave the Mother of Invention for this training exercise.

When the door finally opened Texas could hear a faint sound of voices coming from down the metallic hallway. Texas followed the echoes towards the room the Director had pointed out when they had arrived. Texas paused for just a moment outside the room she would be battling in. Flashes of her last combat exercises flashed in her mind and Texas found herself hoping this fight would be over quickly with no problems or injuries.

These doors opened easily without any prompting. Why were these doors in a better condition than the Barack doors? This was a base right? Pushing those thoughts aside Texas stepped into the brightly lit room.

_“HEADS UP!!!!”_

A voice shouted just in time for Texas to react. Texas brought up her arms and braced herself in time to prevent a yellow blur from colliding with her head. A loud CLANG sounded as the collision left her forearms vibrating.

“Wow! Nice Reflexives!!!!” The same voice from before shouted as several figures approached.

Nine figures in total surrounded Texas in the span it took her to blink. Checking her over before she could react. They were all decked out in, arguably, the most colorful armor Texas had ever seen. Armor ranging from bright pink to eye searing purple. The only person wearing a what Texas would call a “sensible” armor color was a person wearing brown armor. But that particular shade was more shiny bronze than a sensible, neutral brown. To make it even worse, the copper shine glinted in the electric lights meaning that any camouflage it might have provided was destroyed with any light source.

“You okay?” The question was from the person that stood in front of Texas. They were wearing the brightest shade of yellow Texas had ever seen.

The figure was the only one out of the group not wearing their helmet. It was a girl, not even a woman yet. She was maybe twenty years old at most, barely five feet tall, about a hundred-fifty pounds, and had a mass of curly hair twice as long as her head, pulled up so that it stuck out in all directions, Texas doubted it would fit in her helmet.

The Director and Counselor expect this-this _child_ to fight? They expect her to fight Texas and not get hurt? After what had happened when Texas had faced off against York and two other fully grown military men?

“You okay?” Texas had to suppress a flinch at how close and loud the voices really were. It was nothing like the soft and fearful voices of the crew of the Mother of Invention. Texas was grateful that she was wearing her helmet when she had entered. It hid her reactions and gave her a few seconds to prepare herself before a person in purple armor removed it and began examining her when she didn’t answer a second time.

“Agent Texas is perfectly fine. She has managed to face a team of the topmost freelancers without any problems. I’m sure a helmet thrown by... someone of your skill level wouldn’t leave a dent in the wall, much less harm an agent of Texas’s caliper.” The Director’s voice sounded from behind the gathered group as he and the Counselor approached.

There were vague scoffs and other annoyed sounds from the colorful team as the person in purple armor ignored the Director in favor of looking Texas over one more time.

“You should be good for now; I don’t see any signs of a concussion or any other major injuries. But I’d like to take another look at that scratch at the nape of your neck after the exercises.” The man stated, taking a step back and offering Texas her helmet.

He seemed to pause for a minute looking from her helmet to her carefully blank face before he stated to stutter.

“I-I’m sorry about that! I’m not usually that pushy. You just weren’t responding, and that helmet was just going really fast and you might have- “

“It’s fine.” Texas cut him off and yanked her helmet out of his hands. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Everyone did it.

But the purple figure seemed to take offense at that.

“No, it’s not! I should have asked you if you were alright with me removing your helmet. I’m so sorry about that. I should have given you a few more seconds to respond at least! After all consent to treatment is necessary for any procedures other than an emergency...”

“And as much as I like watching you stammer and talk about consent Doc, why don’t you give her some room to breathe.” The pink soldier took a step next to the now identified Doc, wrapping their arms around one of his and gently pulling him away. Doc was still rambling about when consent was needed and the few situations that it was ok to provide treatment without it.

“And if your team is done making fools of themselves Counselor, we can get this trivial exercise out of the way.” The Director’s biting tone cut through the chatter of Agents.

They walked closer to the gathered agents. The Director looking irritated and the Counselor looking neutral. Taking up positions in front of the group.

“No, I could make a bigger fool of myself if it meant we could get out of this.” The person in orange armor spoke. Pulling his arms behind his head and leaning against some big metal container. He was doing a very good job of looking like he would like to be anywhere but there. Especially with his helmet still in place.

“Be that as it may, this is still an important test for everyone, especially with how Bravo Teams’ last training exercise went.” The Counselor spoke for the first time. Giving the Orange man a pointed look and ignoring the few laughs from the now dubbed Bravo Team. Stepping towards the group he began introductions.

“Bravo team meet Freelancers’ newest addition, Agent Texas. Agent Texas meet- “ the Counselor was cut off by the Director before he could get any farther. The Director stepped in front of Texas as if his body alone could prevent introductions.

“That is not necessary. Agent Texas does not need to know the names of her opponents. Especially opponents of their level that she will never interact with again.” The Director spoke as if Bravo Team was an unwanted problem he was forced to deal with. An annoyance that he couldn’t get rid of soon enough.

But from what Texas could see that didn’t seem to bother Bravo.

The girl in yellow let out a huff, crossing her arms with a roll of her eyes, looking decidedly more amused than offended.

“Rude.” she replied flippantly before she grabbed the discarded object that had been launched at Texas. Which, upon further examination revealed to be a helmet that matched the girls’ armor perfectly.

The girl swiftly examined the helmet for damages before putting it on. Texas was amazed by how quickly she did so, in under a minute the girl had somehow managing to get her mass of curly hair into a bun and cram it and her head into the helmet.

**“And you wonder why we enjoy ruining your training exercises and your own creations don’t listen to you. If you keep making comments like that, your gonna end up with less respect than you already have.”** Texas could only stare at the Copper soldier. That apparently spoke Portuguese?

“What did he say?” The Director sounded irritated as he turned to the soldier in Red. Either not hearing the girl or flat out ignoring her.

“He said keep yer pants on. There’s no harm in messing around before a friendly training exercise. Especially one that’s supposed to help a rookie get on ‘er feet and test the waters.” The Red soldier replied. His voice held a familiar accent that Texas couldn’t place but left her feeling... something. Texas has the strangest feeling that he was smiling at her under his helmet.

**“Indeed, let her have fun before she realizes that you are a manipulative bastard with a weird fetish for making everyone unhappy.”** The man in Brown responded. Texas understood enough to know he was agreeing with the Red man.

“Yes Rico, we all agree with your assessment of the situation. And we know you prefer working with machines over fighting. But unfortunately, we have to prove that we can enter “friendly” combat without accidentally breaking a pelican, or filling a warthog with jelly.” The Orange man spoke with something that Texas couldn’t identity. The man swung his arm over the now identified Rico and began to steer the brown figure towards a stack of wooden crates.

The Director’s face began to flush, and Texas noticed that a vein in his forehead was pulsing. What was going in? The Orange man was perfectly respectful and hadn’t even mentioned the Director. So why did the Director give him the same look he had given Agent Iowa three days ago when his team had come back from a mission with just the steering wheel of a car?

There were more sounds of laughter from Bravo as everyone began to take comfortable positions on the nearby crates and boxes. Texas was left standing at parade rest before the Counselor and Director. She stood like that for a few seconds before her hand was gently grabbed from behind and she was led by the soldier in Blue towards the girl, the doctor, and a figure in a shade of aquamarine that made Texas’s chest ache.

Texas couldn’t help but wonder why filling a pig with jelly was a bad thing or why Bravo was laughing at breaking a pelican. As the blue soldier picked her up and placed her on the only free crate in front of the aquamarine solder and between the girl and doctor. Before Texas could return to her spot in front of the Director and Counselor the blue soldier sat on the floor in front of her, his height prevented her from stepping around him.

The Counselor looked more amused that neutral and the Director looked far more agitated than he had a few minutes ago. Just as the Director opened his mouth the Orange man said something that immediately turned the Director’s head and had him rebuking the Orange man.

Texas felt a light tap against her shoulder. Prompting her to turn and look at the Aquamarine figure sitting behind her.

“Sorry about Mass. He’s still getting used to the idea that not everyone likes being handled like a sack of flour and he forgets to ask people permission before he picks them up. I’ll talk to him later.”

Texas could only nod dumbly and turn back to face the Director, who was still yelling at the Orange man.

What the Hell is going on?

*.*.*.*.*

It took a few minutes for the Director to stop chewing out the Orange man, apparently designated New Hampshire.

Texas was relieved when the briefing finally started. She was finally able to focus on something other than this frankly bizarre encounter.

The exercise was set up almost exactly like her first exercise on the Mother of Invention. It would start with three on one hand to hand combat. The goal was to knock their opponents down to gain a point. Bravo would rotate to let her have a feel of how everyone operated. Then they would move into two on one Electric-Staff combat with the objective of knocking an opponent on their back or unarm them. They would finish up with three on one battles with lock down paint.

Before they could begin to take positions for the first fight the man in Maroon spoke from his place next to New Hampshire. Texas was stunned when the man in Maroon asked when she would get to rest. Texas was practically numb when the Maroon man and Doc began to argue with the Director when she stated that she wouldn’t need a break. The man in Red, most likely the leader of Bravo, began to argue as well after the Director gave one too many insults about Bravo’s “disturbing levels of concern for an opponent.”

It was another fifteen minutes of arguing between the Director and the Red man, apparently named Montana. The Councilor had to get involved when both men began to turn the argument into an insult competition. Finally, the Director agreed to fifteen minute breaks between each match to let her recover.

With everything settled the Director and Counselor left for the viewing deck while Bravo broke up into groups to stand on crates around the designated combat area. Unlike the high-tech training room on the Mother of Invention, Texas had a feeling that this this room was for storage instead of combat. The room was dirty from continued use and a practical maze with large shipping containers and boxes stacked to form hallways and rooms. Completely unlike the barren, pristine white room on the Mother of Invention.

Texas suspected that the containers might actually contain machinery and supplies. She had caught a glimpse of a few deactivated teleporters and a half-opened crate of medical supplies. Some of the smaller boxes were even labeled with their contents. The one closest to Texas was labels “EXPERIMENTAL SMALL-SCALE SHIELD GENERATOR” with a location and date listed below.

They were in a large open area with boxes stacked on all sides. Most of Bravo had taken position on top of the crates to watch. Only the purple one-Doc- remained close by. He was sitting on the first layer of containers. Out of the way but close enough to provide medical attention. Texas felt herself relax marginally at that realization.

She didn’t have to worry about hurting them too bad if there was a medic nearby.

There were only three members of Bravo still on ground level with Texas. The Pink one that had spoken to Doc, the mouthy Orange one, and the Maroon one that had asked about her resting.

Texas was thrown through another loop when the girls voice started to cheer for _HER_. Shouting words of encouragement and telling Texas to “Take out the Reds”.

That wasn’t right. Texas wasn’t on her team, and none of her opponents were Montana. Why would that girl be cheering for Texas and not her own team?

Nobody else seemed bothered by it. In fact, the Aquamarine man and the one in blue- was he called Mass- started cheering with the girl. For _TEXAS._

Texas was still stunned when the Director’s voice came over the speaker and ordered Bravo to at least give Texas a challenge. Texas only took a ready position when FILISS voice started the countdown.

Texas could process everything later. She had a fight to win.

**Combat Training commencing in**

**5**

**4**

**3**

**2**

**1**

**Begin**

Texas launched herself towards the three as the buzzer went off. Pink and Maroon jumped back but Hampshire didn’t have enough time to respond. Texas landed several hard hits. Some-most were admittedly lower blows that they should have been for having just met. The peanut gallery shouted words on encouragement. Although Texas wasn’t sure if it was for herself or for Hampshire who was crouched over himself clutching his groin. Texas saw Pink out of the corner of her eye.

She moved to take a step back. Or at least tried to. Hampshire ended up collapsing on top of Texas’s feet. Holding her in place long enough for Pink to get a solid hit and Maroon to follow up.

They were good. None of the others had managed to land a solid hit on her in any her previous battles, much less two in a row.

Unfortunately, they weren’t good enough. Texas recovered and Pink and Maroon were on their backs thirty seconds later.

FILIS announced the end of the match and Pink and Maroon helped New Hampshire to his feet. They helped him to Doc, the girl bounced down to check on him. Blue-Mass and Aquamarine moved to stand in front of Texas.

Texas was startled when Montana stepped in front of her and offered her a water bottle.

“Good job with Ham, he can always use a good kick in the pants to get him started and take things seriously. I know they’re not the most difficult people to beat up. But you have a lot of battles up ahead. It’s better to keep your strength up and rest when the battles are easier. It gives you a little bit more steam when things get hard.”

Texas nodded accepting the offered water bottle. Trying to ignore how the words made her feel.

Montana remained in front of her long enough to make sure that she was resting before he moved to Hampshire and Doc. Texas caught some of the insults and jokes made at Hampshire’s expense before FILISS announced the next round. Mass, Aquamarine, and Montana were the next group.

Just like before FILISS began the countdown as they all took ready positions.

**“Begin”**

This time when the announcement was made Texas found herself being attacked first, by Aquamarine.

And boy could that idiot run his mouth.

“So what’s a babe like you doing in a place like this?”

_ Hey Allison how are you today? _

Texas tried to hit the idiot, but he just kept dogging.

“What’s the rush we’ve got all the time in the world.”

_ I was wondering if maybe you were interested in... umm... _

Texas tried to ignore his words. Tried to interrupt ever third word with a punch. Do something to shut Aquamarine idiot up. But each sentence Aquamarine completed seemed to bring up flashes of forgotten voices and memories.

_ There is a new action movie in theaters. Would you be interested- _

“Remember to keep a level head with your opponent.”

Texas ignored the shouts from Montana. He was her opponent why should she listen to him? She reminded herself when he repeated himself as Aquamarine gave another terrible pick up line.

_ a small pink bundle 2.5 kg and 47.0 cm long containing the most precious thing in the universe. _

Texas hit Aquamarine a bit harder. She needed to focus. She could try and remember later.

“So you wanna go out after if your not busy after?”

_ Allison? _

Fight now.

Texas swung harder and harder. Barely giving Aquamarine a chance to block with every swing. If she landed one hit Aquamarine would be out. The voices would stop.

But her swings didn’t seem to be enough to land a hit.

Aquamarine’s fighting style was familiar. It reminded Texas of how Washington fought Carolina or South Dakota. He dogged as often as he could and blocked what he couldn’t. Texas had to give him her full attention if she wanted to connect. But that meant Texas couldn’t focus on the other two if she wanted to land a hit and shut him up.

_ A cozy apartment with a comfortable grey couch and a crib with stars. _

Texas knew that would be a mistake. She shouldn’t look away from her opponent any of them. But Aquamarine was still trying to attack her when she let up her attacks to watch the others. She couldn’t ignore the person actively attacking her.

Texas found herself trapped against a rock and a hard place. If she focused too much on the opponent before her she would be taken out by the other two. But if she focused on the two behind her then she would leave herself open to the person in front of her.

Montana’s attack from behind was not unexpected. As Texas moved to strike Aquamarine a red hand appearing in her line of sight. Montana stopped her strike with a firm grip of her wrist.

What was unexpected was how Montana managed to hold her arm still long enough to pull Aquamarine out, instead of attacking her.

“Ok son that’s enough. Mass you can have a turn playing now.”

_ Mama Dada pway! _

Texas didn’t have a second to fully register Montana’s words before a large blue figure was on top of her. Cheering?

The high pitched squeal of a child merged with the lower cheer of a man as Texas dodged a wide swing.

Mass was swinging at her with as much power as Texas had. Probably more. Texas had jerked away fast enough to dodge his attack only for a blue fist to leave a crater in the metal crate a deep as his arm.

That would knock her out with one hit. Texas found herself staring as Mass managed to wrench his arm free in one fluid motion.

Their fighting styles were too similar. Texas realized as Mass shrugged off a crate that had he had knocked loose when he had remover his arm. Mass just let the big wood box shatter on impact with his head. He was completely unphased.

That was exactly her style. Let an opponent hit you and give them back twice as much as they gave you. Hit them hard and hit them often.

Mass was using her exact style.

And that wasn’t good.

When two opponents faced off using that same style the victor would be the stronger one because their hits would have a greater impact. Harming their opponent more and leaving more damage with each strike.

And Texas was not the stronger of the two.

Texas could hear hushed words from Montana and Aquamarine as she dodged Mass’s attacks. But Mass needed her full attention. Not the two standing away from her looking like they were about to fight each other.

“I don’t care what you were trying to do. She looked ready to have a breakdown or a meltdown with you were flapping your gums. So, shut it.” None of what was said made any sense to Texas. She just had to ignore it.

Texas managed to dodge Mass’s next few hits, but she was being backed into a corner. Literally.

Her back was against a stack of metal crates. Too tall for her to climb for a relief from Mass’s assault. The other two, while not actively attacking her, were on her other sides, boxing her in. If she managed to escape Mass’s next attack, they would be there for her.

Texas had no choice but to let the hit connect. If she could hold the big guy long enough to knock him on his ass she could take the other two out.

Mass’s fist collided with Texas.

.*.*.*.*.

Texas came to with the sound of FILISS’s voice. Texas rubbed her sore chest not recalling what had happened. She had let the blue soldier hit her, purposefully, then nothing. How had she ended up flat on her back?

She had been standing against a crate. How had she ended up in the middle of the floor?

Doc was above her, probably looking her over. Texas could also see the rest of Bravo looking at her from over Doc’s shoulder. Most were still on their perches on top of crates and boxes but all of them were looking at her flat on her back.

They all looked... worried?

Texas tried to sit up properly only to be stopped by a purple hand.

“Give it a minute. That wasn’t a light tap Mass gave you.” Doc stated as he gently pushed her back down. He put some kind of scanner away into his utility belt. Texas could feel the ache in her body as she shifted.

It was manageable.

“My sensors say you are alright, but I wanted to get a good look at your head and pupils and make sure you don’t have a concussion.” He continued. His hands fiddled with his equipment hesitantly.

Texas was confused. Why wasn’t he taking her helmet off to check her? Why HADN’T he taken it off when she was unconscious? There was another awkward stretch of silence until there was a loud cough coming from Texas’s right.

It was Aquamarine.

“Hey sweet cheeks, he wants your permission before he takes it off.”

Texas ignored the nickname in favor of looking at the purple medic. He was still fiddling with his hands, but Texas could now tell that his posture was nervous. The purple helmet wasn’t facing her, but Texas could practically feel his questioning gaze.... now that it had been pointed out to her.

Had he been waiting all this time for her ok?

“Go ahead.”

Those were the magic words. Not a second after Texas had given her permission, her helmet was removed, and her head was gently being examined.

The Director’s voice came over the speakers. “If you are all done with this farce we can get started with this next round.” His voice was angry and terse. It set Texas on edge. It was her first loss. Maybe he was disappointed?

Doc gave her some pain killers. But his purple armor seemed to be in a different position. Was he still nervous? No this was different from the nervous finger fiddling. What was that emotion?

All of Bravo seemed to move sluggishly. Some people standing just a bit too close to Texas. Preventing her from standing properly as they checked over the damages before they took up positions again.

It looked like Texas’s last opponents in the hand to hand combat section would be the girl, Ricco, and Doc.

For the first time ever, the score was one to one.

**FILISS began the countdown.**

The start of the battle had Texas pushing the pain into the farthest reaches of her brain. She could rest and recover when this was over. She attacked her opponents with as much furry as she could muster. The girl, Rico and Doc were facing her all-in ready positions. This wouldn’t take long.

Doc was out in less than 3 seconds. _Take out the medic first_ a soft, unfamiliar, voice in the back of her head whispers. His body was thrown back and he collided with a shipping container and going out the other end with a thump. His chest plate was dented, nearly falling off his body and he was out. Texas took half a second to register Maroon moving towards him before she continued with her task.

Texas moved for the girl. She was the smaller of the two remaining and she would be easier to take out. Then she would focus on the heavier guy. But they must have anticipated that because Rico was in front of Texas before she could land a hit on the girl.

Rico was a solid object, unyielding and hard. Every hit she managed to land on him was like hitting a concrete wall. Except a concrete wall had some give to it. Ricco did not. His heavy form was not as strong as Mass, but he was firmly planted on the ground, making him an unmovable object. Every time Texas tried to change her target to the more vulnerable opponent, he would be there to block any hits Texas aimed at the girl.

Not that the girl used him like a shield and hid from Texas. The girl used Texas’s distraction with her teammate to land hits. She flitted around her solid teammate like a hummingbird; the solid figure held all of Texas’s attention while the short figure delivered hit after hit. It was an unmovable object working with an unstoppable force.

It was a very effective strategy.

The girl’s fighting style was completely different from any of the others Texas had encountered. She was surprisingly light on her feet and flexible for someone her size and weight. If Rico was a mountain then the girl was a hurricane landing solid hits and dancing away before Texas could recover.

It wasn’t like what she had seen from any of the freelancer training sessions. Carolina’s style was more solid and in your face. She used dramatic flairs and speed to throw people off balance and land as many hits as possible. Nor, was it like CT’s fighting style where she slipped away until she had an opening to deliver single a devastating hit that would end the fight. And it certainly wasn’t like any of Texas’s own heavy, grounded styles where you took hits and used that to hit your opponent back harder, giving them twice as many hits as they gave you.

The girl fought in a way that seemed to be entirely her own while somehow still complemented the heavy, down and dirty style Rico used. It was completely foreign to Texas. But unfortunately, very affective. Rico held her in place and the girl hit her hard and fast before Texas could break free.

It was a solid strategy. One Texas didn’t have a counter for. After three more solid hits from both opponents Texas was sent sprawling and FILISS called the match.

Texas had lost. She had lost twice in a row. That had never happened before. She had lost once or twice when she had first woken up and started to return to training. But never two in a row. Not in training, not against the top freelancers, never.

There was a hand in front of her visor. Texas stared at gaudy yellow hand offered to her. Not comprehending why there was an offered hand. Was the girl pitying her? Was she hoping for Texas to do something?

Texas stood without the help. She didn’t need the pity she needed to focus.

Texas walked past the girl and Rico towards where the electric staffs were held in a crate. Hampshire offered one to her from his spot, resting on a wooden box. Texas ignored the offered Electric Staff in favor of grabbing one in the crate beside him.

She didn’t need his pity either.

If she had accepted the offered staff, she might not have missed the slight tilt of Bravo’s helmets, indicating that they were all watching her.

Texas didn’t want to rest during the next intermission. She had slipped up during the last two fights, she only had seven left. She couldn’t mess up any more or the Director and Counselor might pull her completely. What would she do then? What could she do then? Without her memories she didn’t know if she had anything to return home too. Unfortunately, a rather pointed look from the helmet less and almost armor less Doc had her sitting down instead of swinging the staff around in preparation.

It took a lot longer to go through the fifteen minutes than the first break. But Texas was in place as soon as the fifteen minutes were up.

Her opponents for this round were Montana and the maroon guy from the first fight.

It was two to one **Bravo** with the advantage.

**FILISS began the countdown as they took position.**

Texas could do this. She had wiped the floor with the top freelancers on the Mother of Invention. She had perfect scores in her training and weaponry tests. She could handle them.

Texas let them approach her. They ran at her with their staffs raised, coming at her from opposite sides. But Texas used her own staff to knock first the maroon one back before knocking Montana down and out with one swift motion. FILISS signaled the end of the fight with a buzzer.

The score was now two to two.

Texas could do this. As the next fifteen minutes passed Texas took the time to plan. Her next opponents would be Aquamarine and Mass. she needed to take them out as fast as possible or she might have a repeat of her first loss.

**FILISS began the countdown and the three took off as the match began.**

This time Texas didn’t give them any time. With one hit she sent Aquamarine and Mass flying. The two lost their weapons and were sent hurdling into the metal crates hard enough to leave dents.

The FILISS announced the end of the match and the rest of Bravo tried to pull their teammates out of the metal crates.

The score was three to two. Texas with the advantage.

It took a lot longer than Texas’s allotted fifteen minutes to pull the two out of the crates. Even longer for Rico and Pink to take position after checking that the other two hadn’t hurt themselves.

**FILISS started the next round and Texas sprung at Rico.**

She aimed for his head, managing to hold her staff up to his neck. Trapping him between her shoulder and staff. Texas turned to watch Pink. Rico still at her mercy. Pulling hard she hoped that it was enough to knock him out.

Rico fell to the ground as Pink attacked her. But with one swift upward swipe Pink was disarmed and on their back.

FILISS called the match but Rico didn’t move.

Texas looked worriedly at him. Not a twitch. But Pink didn’t seem too bothered. Walking towards the limp brown figure with more ease than someone who has just been beaten up should have. Pink motioned for Hampshire and Maroon to help lift Rico up.

“Don’t worry about Rico. He gets like that when his helmet almost pops off. He’ll be fine.”

Aquamarine was right next to her. Looking perfectly fine as the others gathered around Rico. Lifting him up to lay in front of Doc who immediately began looking him over. Maroon took a position next to him. Probably to assist with Rico’s treatment.

“Doc’s armor is too banged up for him to fight any more and it looks like Rico will be out for the next round.” Maroon called out from his perch next to the pair. He was trying to pry the staff from Rico’s death grip.

“We can pick substitutes for them later. Begin preparing for the next round.” The Counselor’s voice came over the intercom this time. Just as calm and neutral as it always was.

The girl and Hampshire both seemed to wave at that announcement. The girl placing a small hand over Doc and Hampshire patting Rico’s shoulder.

“Yea Yea. We’re moving.” The girl called out as she took Pink’s discarded staff. Hampshire grabbing one from the box he had been sitting by.

The score was four to two. Texas with the advantage.

FILISS began the countdown down but neither of her opponents held a ready stance. The girl stood straight; her staff held at a diagonal one hand holding the staff at her shoulder the other at her hip. Hampshire held it one handed slung over his shoulder.

Neither moved as FILISS counted down.

Were they giving up?

**Begin**

The command had Texas moving forward. If they were giving up Texas might as well end this quickly. Neither jumped back when faced with Texas’s attack. But the girl moved the tip her staff in a circular downward motion. The metal tip sparked as it made contact with the concrete. The angle that the girl had her staff at blew the sparks directly in front of Texas’s helmet. The sparks caused Texas’s HUD to glitch.

Texas lost five seconds to her HUD adjusting.

When her vision cleared Texas was alone. Nobody at her sides, in front of her, nor behind her. There were some splashes of color around her but none the right color.

“ABOVE!” A loud, feminine voice called out.

Texas had less than a second to look upward in time to see a yellow foot dropping down on her.

Texas was able to move her staff upward to block the sudden downward attack but before she could bat the girl away Texas felt a solid object collide with her raised weapon. Ripping it out of her hands. Texas had to jump away to avoid the falling figure.

Texas could hear FILISS declaim the match as she stood up to see Hampshire standing next to the girl, holding Texas’s stolen staff in his hand.

Texas had _lost_. She had been disarmed.

The score was four to three. Texas still had an advantage, but it was close.

Texas stared at the two. How had they done that? She hadn’t seen Hampshire on the ground. Nor had she heard the girl move above her.

Texas was about to demand that they tell her what has happened when the Director’s voice came over the speaker.

He ordered the members of Bravo not fighting to go into the observation deck and to bring Texas her weapons for the lockdown paint battles.

Hampshire and the girl sent Texas one last glance before they gathered the staffs and began to move towards the observation deck. The girl even had the guts to wave towards Texas.

Texas found out why thirty seconds later when FILISS announced the next group. The first group was going to be the Hampshire, the girl, and Pinkie. The two forms were back five minutes later with their own weapons and Pinkie handed Texas her own and the four stair cartridges she would need for the rest of the rounds.

Texas ran a quick check of her gun and ammo as soon as it landed in her hands. She wasn’t taking any chances. Just because this group seemed a lot friendlier that the first didn’t mean that they wouldn’t try and pull the same stunt as Maine and Wyoming.

Texas had made sure that none of her clips were tampered with as FILISS announced the start of the next match.

Texas moved first. Shooting towards her opponents’ feet. She stopped them from approaching but didn’t land a hit. Texas was then preoccupied with a barrage of shots from Pinkie. None had hit but Texas had a sinking feeling they weren’t supposed to.

Texas was forced backwards. She watched her sides for Hampshire and the girl. Nothing behind her, nor to her sides. Her front was blocked by paint.

**_ Above! _ **

Texas reacted in time to dodge the girl dropping from the top of a crate stack. The girl landed with her gun raised. Pointed at Texas

Reflexes kicked in at that point. Texas grabbed the muzzle of the gun. Yanking it out of the way. Texas could vaguely hear the girl shouting some kind of warning as Texas attempted to rip the gun out of her hand.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

They were stuck _together_.

The gun had exploded in her hands, locking them two together with lockdown paint. When Texas tried to yank the gun out of the girl’s hand, she had caused the gun to go off at the same time she crushed the barrel with her bare hands. The collision between the paint in the barrel and the crushed muzzle had caused lockdown paint to explode from the gun. Not enough to cover the two but enough to stick the two opponents’ hands together. The two stared at each other stunned at what had happened.

**_ What now? _ **

Both combatants seemed to look at each other. Unsure of what to do. Neither were out, they needed at least one more direct hit for it to count as an out. And it wasn’t like the paint would dissolve without FILISS ending the match. Maybe she could break it?

The girl let out a sharp yelp as she suddenly found herself lifted off the ground arcing towards one of the crate columns. Texas tried to separate her by smashing the girl into the columns. Texas managed three collisions with the crates before the girl got her bearings.

Before she could collide with the next column Texas tried to smash her into, the girl managed to tuck into a ball. She stopped herself before she could collide with the concrete pillar by bracing her feet against the crate’s face. She kicked off the pillar and threw herself backwards before Texas could react.

The girl vaulted herself towards Texas. Her centrifugal force worked in her favor; the girl was able to use their connected arms like an anchor, instead of flying past Texas in a straight line she found herself moving around her in an arc. She wrapped herself around her much larger opponent. Extending her leg to glide herself around Texas the much smaller girl managed to land behind her. Their still connected hands were forcing Tex to lean back with her arm extended in a painful way or risk chocking herself with her own arm crossed over her throat.

The position Texas found herself in left her entire torso and lower body exposed. The connected arm was crossed over her throat, pushing her into a backwards arch, her opposite arm was helping her stay upright, bracing her against a column from when the girl had thrown her off balance.

The girl held Texas in place for the others to take aim. Texas was hit with three rounds of lockdowns paint and the round was over.

Texas had lost.

**Again!**

She needed to focus! The score was four to four Texas had lost half the exercises! What was happening? The Director had said that this would be an easy test? Had that weeklong break watching over York really hurt her performance that much?

Texas put the thoughts out of her mind and faces her new opponents. The second group was made up of Aquamarine Montana, and Maroon. Texas took her time to plan. She needed to beat them quickly. A drawn-out battle would not work in her favor.

As FILISS announced the start of the round Texas found her plan.

**Begin.**

Texas didn’t move to attack her opponents. Instead she aimed for the escape roots that they might have taken. Which proved to be the right move to make. She managed to get Aquamarine in the leg. One more shot to the helmet had him out and silent. Giving her a chance to look at her other two opponents. Montana was strong and quick. He had been able to catch her arm mid swing and hold her there. She needed to keep him at a distance, but Texas knew next to nothing about Maroon. Was he a distance fighter or had she just caught him off balance when the fought close up?

Texas got her answer in the form of a shot of paint to her hip. Curtesy of Maroon. It stung but was manageable. Texas didn’t give him a second to hit her again. She shot off several rounds towards Montana, effectively separating him and Maroon. Once that happened Texas holstered her guns and got up close and personal with Maroon.

He didn’t stand a chance. Maroon was on his back, covered in paint before Montana could bypass the paint blocks.

One left.

Texas looked towards the red man. His aim was off. His shots too wide. Like he was used to a heavier, less accurate gun. Like a shotgun. With that in mind Texas jumped back. If his weapon of choice was a shotgun then he wouldn’t be the most accurate shot in Bravo. She could use that.

Texas stuck to the top of the crates. Keeping as much distance between them as possible while still staying in range. Montana was a lot less accurate. But he was watching Texas like a hawk. Avoiding every shot she made.

Texas just needed the right time to attack.

The right time presented itself when Montana stumbled over a paint block. He took his eyes off her for a split second to regain his footing and Texas managed to hit him twice in the back before he could stand up.

FILISS called the match and began to deactivate the lockdown paint.

Texas found herself accepting Montana’s offered water bottle but brushed him off as he tried to congratulate her.

FILISS announced that, because Texas had managed to take out Doc and Rico in earlier rounds, the girl and Hampshire had volunteered to do he last exercise with Mass. The girl because she had been the only one to beat Texas in every round. Hampshire because “he wasn’t going to leave her alone with Texas.” Whatever that meant.

FILISS announced the score before the countdown began.

Five to four advantage Texas.

Even with the point lead Texas felt an itch. Her heart was beating faster as she faced her opponents. She could feel adrenaline pushing itself through her veins as the countdown started. Her stomach felt like it was full of butterflies. Texas could feel her lips twitch upward for a second. She could feel the muscles in her legs and arms twitched marginally.

Was she afraid of this fight?

Was this what Maine and Wyoming had felt when they had taken the live ammunition? Were they feeling this buzz of emotions and let those feeling make their decisions for them?

**Begin.**

Texas took aim and fired. But the trio moved too quickly. They just barley avoided the paint. The two rounds of Lockdown paint froze the area behind them. Stopping the girl and Hampshire from retreating. Unfortunately, the blue figure managed to evade the paint barrier and end up on the other side. Hampshire shouts something Texas can’t hear over the firing of her guns. Mass disappears into the labyrinth after giving an affirmative shout. The girl launches herself closer to Texas. Trying to distract Texas and disarm her.

Texas doesn’t give her a chance to try.

Texas manages to take a step closer to the girl. Causing the girl to miss Texas’s gun by a an inch. Before her opponents could recover Texas hit the girl with the butt of her gun, knocking her away. Texas went to hit her with the lockdown paint but had to abort in order to counter the orange figure. Hampshire had taken advantage of Texas’s distraction to attack her from behind. Not only causing Texas to almost lose her gun but also giving the girl time to recover.

Texas had to stow her guns to properly combat Hampshire. He wasn’t fast but he knew how to throw his weight around. This time he was careful to avoid any low blows and he actually managed to stop her arm when she went for a crotch punch. The girl was still recovering. She had managed to lose one of her guns when Texas had knocked her back and had only just found it. Texas had to move quickly. She had lost track of Mass’s blue figure and these two were too in sync to take out together.

She had to be fast if she wanted to take them both out. Texas managed to pull Hampshire into a headlock in time to see the girl raise her gun. Texas had to lug his heavy ass away from the edges of the crates towards the center of the ring to avoid the paint. Texas pulled the man in front of her. Ignoring the voice she was using him as a human shield against the girl. But the girl wasn’t looking at her trapped teammate.

_She was looking above them._

Against her better judgement Texas followed the girls gaze to see the missing blue agent standing on top of a stack of crates. His gun was aimed at her and Hampshire

**_ “HIT THE DECK!!!!!!!!” _ **

Texas suddenly felt two small arms encircle her knees and pushing her behind a stack of crates as the Teal guy in the viewing deck cried out a warning. Texas kept her grip on Hampshire; still in a headlock as the Yellow Girl tackled them both to the ground.

That was when the bullets began to fly.

The bullets flew overhead just barely missing the three agents, destroying wooden crates, and leaving dents in the metallic containers they were taking refuge behind.

Texas thought she heard sounds of a scuffle coming from the viewing deck but it was hard to tell if it was an actual argument or another memory over the sound of the bullets.

Texas managed to catch a glimpse of her attacker in the reflection of a large piece of machinery. It revealed Mass still on top of a large stack of crates about two stacks behind their hiding place. The blue figure was struggling with the gun he held. He wasn’t aiming at anything in particular. Rather he was shifting like he couldn’t stop it from firing and was just letting the force move him.

The Hampshire had managed to break her headlock, but he didn’t move to attack her. Instead he moved closer to Texas and the girl still holding onto her legs. He used his bulk to cover Texas and his teammate as the bullets got closer. Some managing to pierce the metallic container. The girl still had a firm grip, shifting from her knees to grip on Texas’s waist; keeping her from moving as the bullets exited the crate next to them.

The bullets began to move after several tense seconds. Texas finally managed to regain her bearings and angrily pushed the two away. Knocking all three down in the process.

“I don’t need your help, NEVER abandon your team.”

Deja vu hit her hard, this was exactly like what had happened before.

Flashes of an explosion and a figure on the ground. They weren’t moving. They were barely breathing. Alarms were ringing and there was screaming. But that wasn’t right. The figure on the ground had a more muted armor color then the two Texas had been facing. Texas forced herself out of the memory. Not now. York was alive, if still severely injured, and she had two people to protect. She could couldn’t let her failure with York repeat.

**No matter what.**

She still had one fully loaded gun, the other was only missing the two rounds she had shot when the round had started. That would be enough to cover the two agents in front of her completely in lockdown paint before she approached the third one. It would protect them from any stray bullets and keep them from any fight that the big guy might start. She also had four, half empty clips from the earlier fights. With any luck it would be enough to take down the big guy.

Except Texas never had good luck.

“Lady, Mass has the high ground and live ammo. We all need help.” The girl responded. Snapping Texas from her plotting.

The girl picked herself off the ground to stand in front of Texas. The orange man did the same. Hampshire took it one step further and maneuvered himself to stand between the two females and the crates. Protecting them from any bullets that might penetrate the crates and injure them.

The bullets had finally shifted to a different stack of crates, but the blue figure was still struggling with the gun.

Just how many bullets were in that gun? She could maybe wait him out if at this rate. But this was the guy that had managed to break concrete with his bare hands. Knock her out with one hit. Could she manage if he had any other surprises like Maine had?

Could the other two if she left them frozen and vulnerable?

“Besides aren’t you a part of freelancer?” The man’s voice broke Texas out of her spiraling thoughts. She jerked to look at him, he was rubbing at where she had hit him. His helmet was directed at her.

Their eyes seemed to meet through their visors.

“That means you’re **on** our team.” Hampshire continued despite Texas’ silence. All the gravity in the universe seemed to exist in his voice. Texas had only heard that tone when North Dakota was lecturing Washington after he tried to do something by himself. The orange man moved from his crouch to stand again.

He was still covering them, her hind brain seemed to recognize as he held his hand open to Texas.

**_An offer._ **

Texas stared at the hand, not understanding. What was the angle here? Why were they talking to her? Why were they looking at her? Why wasn’t the blue guy firing at them? Why weren’t they attacking Texas when she was vulnerable? What was going on?

“My hand isn’t a trick.”

The Hampshire’s voice was soft, almost gentle. In spite of the tone Texas flinched at that declaration and stared at the man.

There was an emotion there that Texas wasn’t used to hearing. As if he would wait for her to make her own choice. Like he was willing to wait even with the bullets flying and angry shouts coming from the observation deck.

That wasn’t normal.

It was another second of staring at the offered hand. Neither the orange man nor the girl moved. Even with bullets flying they were waiting for her to make a choice.

Finally, Texas took the offered hand with some hesitation, but the orange man just firmly pulled her up. No tricks. No surprises. No betrayal.

Aquamarine appeared on the far side of the line of crates a moment later. He was crotched down, sticking close to the metal crates. The bullets were still flying every which way. Aquamarine didn’t try moving closer after several burst through the crate in front of him.

“Everyone alright?”

His voice was clear through their radios, but Texas could hear an undercurrent of another emotion she wasn’t familiar with. It was so much like the voices of the top freelancers when Agent York has been injured.

Concern? For Her? Why?

“A few scrapes and bruises nothing we can’t handle Virg.” The girl responded quickly. “But remind me to thank Penny. It’s a good thing he insisted on the extra padding in the pants or I might never be an Aunt.” The girl’s voice shifted to a far more chipper tone than she should be in this situation.

The orange man swatted at her for the comment.

“That’s good, does anybody have a plan?” Aquamarine responded. Before letting out a curse when the bullets got closer to his hiding place.

Texas stared. A plan? Nobody listened to plans unless Carolina made them. Her last battle with Maine, Wyoming, and York had proved that.

“Virg get Mass’ attention. Cali, sneak around the long way behind Mass. Be ready to react if his armor isn’t frozen on the trigger. Just in case.” Texas nearly jumped when Hampshire moved from his position to look at her.

“You alright to cover Cali while I give him something to look at?” Texas gave a hesitant nod, still stunned at being included.

“Ok. Keep her covered. I don’t think Mass has any control over his armor right now so be careful.”

Hampshire didn’t wait for a response this time. He turned and began to scale the shipping crates they had been using as cover. Texas could see Aquamarine doing the same.

“Come on. The ladder to the catwalks is this way.” The girl gently grabbed Texas’s hand and began to pull her down the long line of boxes towards the far wall. They paused in front of the first gap between the crates.

“We’re at the first opening. You two ready?” Texas wanted to ask what they were ready for but was interrupted by a loud shout.

_“Hey Mass What Are You Doing?”_ Aquamarine shouted at the same time the girl pulled Texas to the next line. There was another shout and the sound of bullets drifting away from them. But the two running didn’t stop when they reached the other end.

Once there the girl pulled Texas towards the wall at full speed. She would announce the opening number as they approached. Shortly after Hampshire or Aquamarine would shout out questions towards the firing form. Directing his attention, and the bullets, towards their shouts. Distracting him enough that the two didn’t have to worry about being seen.

They only stopped when they reached the wall. The concrete wall was just barely visible between the two large metal crates. There was barely a meter of room between the two heavy crates and most of the floor space was taken up by smaller wooden boxes. When the two made it to the wall, Texas saw that the wall space between the crates was taken up by old metallic rungs sticking out of the wall. The rungs formed a pseudo-ladder going straight up into the rafters.

“We’re at the wall. Are we cleared to climb?” The girl questioned looking at every box and crate. As if she expected an attack from the objects. There wasn’t enough room to stand side by side, so Texas was stuck behind her watching her twitch.

“Negative. Give us three minutes to position ourselves in the opposite direction before you climb. Better yet use the time to try and find one of the Micro-SGen’s there should be a few of them laying around.” Hampshire orders the two just as Aquamarine let out another shout.

Texas didn’t know what Hampshire meant by “Micro-SGen’s” but the girl apparently did. She asked Texas to watch the time and began to examine the smaller crates around them. Checking the labels before she found what she was looking for. Texas watched as the timer counted down and the fighting seemed to get farther away. She resolved herself to grab the girl and carry her up without the item as soon as five minutes had passed.

But that wasn’t necessary. The girl managed to open the crate and grab a circular object the size of a breastplate from its contents. The girl strapped it to her back and scurried back to Texas before she was down to sixty seconds.

“I’ll go ahead and mark the way. Some of these old rungs and supports squeak. So, watch where I go.” The girl waited for Texas to nod before she took position. She began to climb when Hampshire shouted next.

Texas was tense, hyper focused on her movements. She was also cursing the girl’s “kill me” yellow armor for not providing any camouflage as they scaled the wall. Texas couldn’t be too close to protect the girl or she might miss a rung and give them away. But staying too far back meant that she couldn’t cover the girl at all. The two also had to keep a steady pace. If they were too fast, they might attract unwanted attention. The two made it three-fourths of the way up when the girl made and announcement to Texas.

“Ok, we should be good. The rest are in better shape than the ones at the bottom so we can pick up the pace a bit.” Texas was about to do just that when she heard Hampshire’s next shout.

_“Mass, where did you get the toy?”_ Texas found herself stalling instead of speeding.

“Oh, the mustache guy gave me them when I went down to fight. He said that they would be helpful weapons for this fight.” The attacker’s voice was jittery with the recoil but blear as day.

Weapons? Plural? Meaning he had more than just the gun?

_“Mass did the Director give you any other toys?”_ Aquamarine called out. Thinking the same thing.

“Yea a weird egg with a pin in it.” The blue soldier responded.

_“Shit”_ Hampshire responded. Probably unintentionally because the second he had uttered his curse there was a barrage of bullets aimed at him.

_“Mass!”_

“Virginia did it.”

Texas didn’t have a second to question who Virginia was, or what she might have done. The girl had managed to make it to the end of the ladder and into the rafters during that entire conversation. She was just above Mass. The girl waved to Texas before she removed the device from her back. It looked like she was trying to strap it to her chest. Texas began to scale the ladder as fast as she could. Once at the top Texas crawled close to the girl as quietly as she could.

“Got it!” The girl whispered out as Texas got close. The girl had managed to fix the strange device to her chest plate and was currently working on powering it up. Texas was surprised when the girl’s helmet lifted. She could feel the girl’s eyes lock with hers despite the two visors in the way that should have made the action impossible.

“I’m gonna drop down on top of him and use my weight to force him down. Follow me three seconds later and get the rest of him. That should prevent any spring back from Mass’s armor.” The girl looked at Texas for another moment.

Texas wanted to protest. She was the more durable one. This-this kid shouldn’t be anywhere near the line of fire. Much less jumping in headfirst to take down an armed combatant three times her size!

The girl seemed to sense Texas’s hesitance because she placed her hand over Texas’s arm without breaking eye contact.

“I’ll be fine. This doohickey will keep me safe from any bullets. Besides, I’m the least injured out of the two of us remember?” The girl’s voice was playful for some reason. Texas wanted to argue that she had done more in a worse state, but the girl was already moving.

She gripped the I-beam firmly before swinging herself like a gymnast. Using her momentum to propel her forward she let go and launched herself towards the still firing figure. Mass caught sight of her. He turned to look at the shadow dropping on top of him. Texas felt her stomach jump into her throat and Texas was dropping down before she could register an energy field forming around the tiny figure stopping any bullets before they could connect with her armor. The girl had landed gracefully. She had missed his torso when he had moved but she had managed to pin his arms to the floor with her full weight.

Texas might have been concerned with her breaking his arms if it weren’t for the fact that Mass’s arms weren’t actually on the ground, instead they were half an inch off the ground and rising. Mass’s form was lifting the girl up with just the strength of his triceps. Texas didn’t have any more time to process that, because a second later she was tumbling on top of Mass’s whole body with a thump.

Sending the trio sprawling into a big clump with Mass at the bottom.

A few seconds later the girl recovered the fastest because she took the grenade from Mass’s belt before removing the magazine from the, still firing, gun. The gun let out a few pitiful clicks as the empty weapon tried to fire air.

“I got the weapons but it looks like it was some kind of an armor malfunction. His gloves are still firing.” The girl let out a sigh into her coms. She handed the grenade and clip to Texas and started fiddling with Mass’s armor.

“Are you two alright?” Hampshire’s voice came through the coms next. His voice somehow relieved and worried at the same time.

“You mind answering them so I can get Mass’s armor off?” The girl wasn’t facing Texas when she spoke, but Texas knew the girl was speaking to her. Nodding even though she knew the girl couldn’t see her, Texas moved to her coms. She answered still laying on top of Mass.

“I think so. I didn’t get anything, and it looks like the equipment did its job when we jumped.” Texas felt like a doofus answering like that. But what else was she supposed to say? I’m in shock right now because I was fully expecting your team to try and turn me into Swiss cheese? I have no idea if everyone is ok because we just jumped down at least two stories to tackle some guy but none of us are missing any limbs so I’m gonna take that as a good sign that none of us have any broken bones?

“That’s good. When Mass is fully removed from his armor come down and we’ll have Doc take a look at you. Just to be sure.” The voice this time was Aquamarine. Texas could just barely see the colors that had started to gather near the bottom of the crate stack they were on top of. Almost all the colorful figures were there.

Once most of Mass’s armor was removed the girl and Texas helped to lug him down and place him in the careful arms of Doc. Hampshire began to examine the girl for any injuries and the others left Texas to sit down and process.

Texas was vaguely aware of more colorful agents joining them. Most were speaking in hushed voices and glancing at her. She couldn’t bring herself to care as she stared forward, blankly. She didn’t think she could make it to the plane or any “quarters” she might have been given before she started to shut down. So why not just do it here?

She had failed to take down the final team. She hadn’t taken control of the situation when things went off script. She had lost to a child every time they had faced off! She had failed and would be removed from Freelancer with nowhere else to go. Why bother with pretending to be strong when she would never see any of these people again?

“Hey.” The girl in yellow rapped her knuckles against Texas’s HUD. Pulling Texas from her downward spiral once again. The girl was standing helmet-less, in front of the exhausted Agent. She and the others had removed their helmets the first chance they got. Revealing the wide ranges of ages and backgrounds of her opponents.

Texas could feel more memories try and penetrate through the pounding headache as she looked over the diverse faces for the first and last time.

Doc caramel colored skin only made his hair and eyes seem darker by comparison. He was currently looking Mass over. Texas registered Mass’s nearly midnight hair as it fell over a pale face and bright blue eyes. Doc was trying to get the blue gauntlet to release the emptied gun. Rico was up and moving, their helmet missing to reveal that her previous opponent had been a robot of some sort. Rico’s head had a humanoid shape with a movable jaw and blinking eyes but nothing resembling synthetic skin like what you would see on an animatronic in a theme park. Texas could feel her headache grow at the sight of him-it-them helping Doc.

None of them could be over thirty.

Texas was saved from another wave of memories and downward spiral by Hampshire approaching to stand behind the girl who was still looking at Texas. The two-standing side by side looked like they could be twins. Their faces young, younger than what should be allowed for war. Their hair both dark, curly, and long. Hampshire’s hair was longer than any kind of regulation should allow for. Even their builds and heights were similar. Hampshire being about six inches taller than the girl.

“About what you said when Mass was firing? You know we’re on your team too, right? So, when we moved to help you we weren’t abandoning a teammate we were protecting on?” Hampshire seemed to realize that Texas wasn’t going to respond. Instead of waiting for a response, he moved to sit next to her.

The girl looked at Texas with wide, honest, and kind eyes.

Texas still didn’t respond. She didn’t know how a soft, traitorous, voice whispered.

“I’m Cali by the way.” The girl, now identified as Cali offered her hand to Texas but dropped it a few seconds later when Texas didn’t move to answer beyond nodding. Inspite of that the girl still did not break eye contact as she moved to sit on Texas’s other side. Holding her ground with a friendly grin.

Texas broke eye contact first. She turned to the rest of the group that had started to gather around her. All of them were looking at her.

Waiting.

“You already know my designation is Texas.” She answered curtly when she realized they were waiting for her to introduce herself and weren’t going to move until she told them.

“Yea but that’s your ‘designation’ we want to know what you wanna be called.” The ebony man wearing Aquamarine spoke then. He was just as young as Doc and Mass, but not as young as Hampshire and the newly dubbed Cali. Aquamarine approached them next. Draping his arm over the girl’s shoulder as he sat next to her. The four of them forming a semicircle.

Texas wanted a few more seconds before she realized that they weren’t going to drop it. They wanted her name and wouldn’t accept the only name she had been given by Freelancer.

_The only name she had._

Texas began to consider her answer. When a new voice joined their semicircle.

“Take yer time. We’re in no rush” the eldest man-Montana- spoke. His red helmet was under his armpit, revealing the weathered and fraying face of man in his fifties. Montana was easily the oldest person in Bravo, if not all of Freelancer. But his words were gentle as the remaining troopers moved closer to the small group. Most of the others began to take up positions, forming a complete circle. Some sitting, some standing, some still trying to wrestle Mass out of his armor.

“I’m designated Montana but everyone calls me Mont.” The now sitting red figure started. There was something very familiar in his voice and actions, but Texas couldn’t place it.

That seemed to be a signal for everyone else because one by one they all started introducing themselves.

“I’m Vermont but everyone calls me Vern.” The Maroon figure introduces himself. His red hair and fair, freckled skin set him apart from the tan, grey and weather worn superior.

“I’m Virg. I won’t answer to my designated name.” The ebony figure in aquamarine filled in the silence next. Crossing his arms when he refused to offer his designated name. There were a few soft chuckles from the others, but nobody forced him to answer.

“His designation is Delaware but just call him Doc.” Virg continued. Indicating Doc’s purple figure. “As you know the big guy answers to Mass, but he’ll also respond to Chewy and Big M.” Virg continued waving to the still stuck blue figure.

/I am Rico/ the synth-soldier spoke from his position trying to remove the metal plating from Mass’s shins. Texas could understand that, and it was helpful that the others had called Rico by name throughout the exercises.

Pinkie took over and began to introduce himself. “I’m designated Pennsylvania but call me Penny. It’s a much nicer name. Short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue like-“

“I’m Hampshire but call me Ham. It’s a lot less work.” Hampshire-Ham cut off Penny before he could continue. With a not so subtle elbow from Hamp-Ham, the girl locked eyes with Texas again before she began,

“I’m Cali. Or Sister. Whatever’s easiest for you.” She was smiling at Texas like they shared some big secret.

With everyone else finished and no sign of the Director or Counselor to stop this getting-to-know-you session it was now Texas’s turn. And she had nothing, no nickname, no real name, absolutely nothing from Freelancer that would be acceptable.

But, there was a vague memory brushing her consciousness. A large group of people were congratulating her. She had done something important and she was at a party for it. The location, faces, and voices was nebulous at best but the name they called her stood out.

“Tex. Call me Tex.”

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Tex jerked out of the memory when Mont placed a hand on her shoulder. She had been lost in thought since they had started the home movies. Everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours had put her on edge. Giving her little time to process the fear that she had lost everyone, nor the relief that everyone was ok. She ignored Mont’s undoubtedly worried glance to take stock of the others.

Wash was next to Virg. Laughing at the recording of her wearing a mask and holding TJ on her shoulders as she faced off against “Captain Nap Time.” Mass with pillows duck taped to him and a blanked tied around his neck was shouting stuff about sleep.

Most of Alpha squad was gathered in a clump whispering to themselves as the videos got increasingly more absurd. They kept shooting her glances, as if seeing her for the first time as the video showed a collage of her launching herself out of teleporter, taunting Virg about how much he hated teleporters before she managed to launch herself into a wall. But beyond the pointed glances there wasn’t much activity.

Mass was curled up with Roxie asleep on his stomach. The puppy had exhausted herself at some point in time but was still being pet by Mass. Vern and Ham were sitting together, whispering.

Cali was in front of Tex leaning on her elbows. She was far more subdued than normal, probably exhausted from the day.

You a’right darl’n?” Mont finally asked as he pulled her from her thoughts.

“Yea. Just... remembering.” Tex tried to turn back towards the video, hoping that Mont wouldn’t ask.

“Take all the time you need. If you ever forget, we’ll be here to remind you.” Mont reminded her. He squeezed her shoulder in a familiar gesture but didn’t move his hand.

Reminding her that she didn’t have to face everything by herself.

Tex leaned into the comfort the man offered. It was familiar, not in the way that holding TJ or her dreams of a dark haired man calling out to her were familiar. It was familiar in the sense that she knew the promise that sensation meant. Familiar gestures reminding her she wasn’t alone.

All of Bravo had gone out of their way to support her through her trials even when they didn’t understand them.

When Tex had admitted to not knowing how to wear civilian clothes properly Cali and Penny had done more than sigh and dress her like the medics on the MoI would. They had shown her how to do it herself, helped her practice, and even given her a crash course in how to dress to blend in with the scenario.

When Tex struggled with cooking or operating everyday machinery Ham and Rico had helped. Ham had gone so far as to teach her how to drive stick shift, ride motorcycles, and operate a car at over one hundred miles an hour.

When the nightmares of a man screaming in agony, a red headed baby crying, and the flashes of pain from her accident left her numb, shaking, exhausted, and unsure of what was real and what wasn’t, Doc and Virg were there to listen and help her through her delusions. They had been a stead grounding force during times that Tex couldn’t even remember her own name.

When the members of Bravo had joined her nightmares. Their forms bloody and screaming in the best nightmares and their bodies broken and unmoving in the darkest of her nightmares. Mass and Vern had been there with a hug and methods for her to check in with them anywhere anywhen, no hassle no worry.

When Alpha team, DC, and the others from the MoI were driving her up the walls and she felt the sides of the ship were closing in; Mont was there to listen and offer advice. Sheila was there, even with the restrictions on her code preventing her from doing much. Sometimes that was all Tex needed. Sheila did what she could by just making their conversations private or flickering the lights to remind Tex that she wasn’t alone.

Even little TJ who hadn’t even known her for a full year yet, was willing to let her hold him for hours and just reassure her that he was still alive.

Cali had finally lost the fight with her eyelids and had fallen backwards into Tex’s lap. Fast Asleep.

Tex carded her fingers through her thick curly hair absently. This wasn’t the first time Cali had done this.

It wouldn’t be the last either.

When Tex had first met Bravo, she had struggled to adjust to how familiar everyone was with each other. Physical contact had been nonexistent during her orientation on the MoI. Most had been afraid to approach “Agent Texas” the feared dark Agent. Suddenly being in a group that lived and worked so closely with each other that they were practically family had made her head spin.

Getting used to physical contact had been bumpy. She had accidentally thrown Cali and Virg into several walls because they had made contact with her too quickly. They had been quick to apologize but they hadn’t stopped working with her to make sure that she knew she could be familiar with them. A hand to a shoulder, brushing arms in the hallway, even brushing fingers when Tex got lost in thought. All actions had a rocky start, but they worked with Tex until she felt comfortable enough to start the contact herself.

Things had gotten easier once she got used to the sensation of being out of armor. She had been jumping at the wind flowing through her hair. The grass against her calf’s had her looking for traps that weren’t there. Even just the natural sounds of the canyon without her helmet made Tex pause for dog barks and bird songs.

That was just one example of how Bravo had worked with her to adjust after her accident.

These people had been on her side from day one. Even when they faced off against her they had been focused on her safety. They had been willing to work with her through her problems. Unlike the medics and techs on the MoI who would brush her concerns and issues aside or tell her to ignore them. Or even worse, act like the Director and tell her how she should feel or behave.

Instead, Bravo chose to work with her.

Bravo had been willing to let her figure things out things herself. Giving her time to realize the answers instead of giving them to her.

Bravo’s actions and patience had been a godsend with helping Tex discover herself after her accident. They had helped fill in gaps of her personality and she discover parts of herself she hadn’t even known she was missing. Even now, over a year after they had first met they were still working with her to regain her memories and past.

Tex had discovered that she hated coffee because it was too bitter but loved dark chocolate for that same reason. That, when given the choice, she preferred to eat Kosher and when that wasn’t an option she refused to so much as look at pork. She discovered that she was a night owl but when she got to shower in the morning to wake herself, she loved the first shift of the day because she loved the sunrises.

Bravo was patient and they didn’t push. But they would ask her questions and open her to opportunities allowing her to solve so much about herself. Tex had given up on ever remembering anything before she had bet Bravo. Since then Tex had started recovering bits and pieces that she now had hope.

She had discovered so much about herself in the few scattered moments she got to spend in the canyon. So much that Outpost Alpha felt more like home here than her private bunk on the ship.

The movie finally stopped, and everyone began to plan what to do. It was still a few hour before “the lights” would make their grand appearance. But Alpha squad still wanted to ask questions and explore. Mont was doing a fairly good job of wrangling in the team by reminding them that people still needed to know where they were bunking. And that since they were leaving in the morning so it would be best for them to rest instead of exploring.

The rest of Bravo and Wash were taking down the setup. Folding the blankets as well as cleaning up plates and putting away chairs.

Ham shot the still sleeping Cali a worried look as she didn’t stir. The data pad containing the paperwork she had been looking over during the movie was safely tucked into her lap, but she hadn’t moved since she had fallen asleep. Even after Ham had taken her datapad and paper files to put them back in the nerve center. Cali was practically dead to the world she was sleeping so deeply.

Ham looked like he was considering whether or not he should wake Cali. Tex didn’t blame his hesitation, from the messages they had sent Cali had been struggling to sleep since her surgeries. Tex had gotten a lot of midnight messages with Cali in her pajamas just prattling to the recorder as she struggled with the sleep. The mixture of activity in her brain, pain from the actual surgeries and the powerful meds she had been on had given her bad insomnia. Doc hadn’t wanted to risk putting her on any sleep aids for fear they might interfere with something.

From what Cali had told her earlier, on their way up to check on Ham and Alpha, last week alone had been so bad that Cali had covered half the midnight monitor duties by herself.

Seeing Cali sleeping so peacefully was a comforting sign that she was recovering.

“Don’t worry about it Ham.” Tex whispered as she shifted Cali into her arms and moved to stand with her squat frame in her arms. The blanket that had been thrown over her fell to the ground at Ham’s feet. “I’ll take her to bed. I’m going there anyway.”

Ham nodded and moved to drape the abandoned blanked over Tex’s shoulders. Tex blinked at the action. She hadn’t even realized that she was shivering through her jacket.

“Alright, if she wakes up tell her that I’ll double check the paperwork tomorrow after she leaves. Send me a message if she doesn’t have her bags packed for the trip. I can make sure she wakes up to pack tomorrow morning if she isn’t.”

Tex found herself rolling her eyes as Ham shot his snoring sister a fond expression. Right, as if there wasn’t a better chance of Ham packing his sisters bags for her instead of waking her up to do it herself. They hadn’t changed much since she had met them nearly a year ago. He hid his concern well, but Ham was surprisingly easy to read if you knew what to look for.

Alright, I will.” Tex informed him as she moved towards Blue Base and their shared room. She couldn’t help the soft smile when she heard another argument starting between Alpha and Mont. Tex didn’t break stride. Mont could handle it.

**She had faith in her team.**

** Omake/Continuation Thingy... **

This is what happened next during Texas’s first meeting with Bravo but it was such a good place to end that flashback that I couldn’t resist. I just wanted to include this bit

Note: everything in this little bit is cannon it just wouldn’t fit in right with the rest of the chapter.

“Tex. Call me Tex.”

A loud band echoed after Texas finished. A very angry shout sounding like the Director followed.

“What the Hell was that?”

The Director was pissed. His whole face was an angry red-purple and he definitely had a vein pulsing in his forehead, make that several.

“Isn’t that our line? What in Sam Hill were you thinking? You gave Mass live ammo and a grenade for a FRIENDLY match? You knew Mass would take it because he doesn’t know the difference! The plan was for Mass to hit Tex from afar. Knocking her out with three hits max. She wouldn’t have known she was under attack if Cali hadn’t realized that the gun had different detailing and pushed Tex out of the way.” Mont was just as angry as the Director. His face might have been more neutral than the Directors, but his voice was practically spitting acid-fire.

“Tex and Ham would be dead from those bullets if Cali hadn’t acted. And that’s not even including this little “egg with a pin” you decided to give Mass. Are you really such an idiot that you didn’t realize that the shockwave would have killed everyone in a fifty foot radius? And shrapnel would hit a 750 foot radius?” Mont didn’t give the Director a chance to respond he just steamrolled through. Shaking the half empty clip at the Director to indicate just how pissed he was.

“I really hope you didn’t do these kinds of hair-brained experiments on the MoI. Because if you pulled that stunt in the ship’s training room with a fully operational grenade then you would have killed everyone in the room from the grenade’s compressed shockwave and maybe even everyone in the viewing deck with the amount of structural instability caused by the grenade.”

Texas could feel her entire body go numb at that announcement.

The grenade was a dud?

The blast that had nearly killed York was supposed to be worse?

York had been three feet away from the grenade practically coated in lockdown paint and he was in a coma, missing an eye, and looking at over a year of recovery. Tex, herself had been six feet away and she had needed a full day and a half of examinations before they were certain she was alright. Her armor had been damaged and compromised so badly that she needed a new set. Maine had been about twenty feet away blocked by pillars and covered by lockdown paint but his helmet had been fully exposed. Wyoming had been about fifteen feet from the grenade. Sure there were pillars to protect him from the shrapnel. But, had he been covered enough to survive the shockwave if it hadn’t been a dud?

There had been observers too. At least five agents watching them. Probably more people including different personnel and the Director. All of them would have died if the grenade had performed the way it was supposed to.

“Hey” Texas was pulled from her spiraling thoughts by Mass and the girl-Cali. Mass was down to his bodysuit and a pair of boots. Both were grinning at Texas.

“Let’s let Mont and the others take care of this. We can show you some of the stuff around this base. There are some really cool vehicles that just made it through preliminary testing and safety checks and are on their way to SIM bases for further testing. Wanna see?”

Texas didn’t get a chance to respond because the two had managed to grab her shaking hands and lead her out of the room before the argument got much worse.

The last bit Texas managed to hear from the argument was Montana’s howling voice scream. “YOU WANTED TO TEST SOME AI ARMOR INTERFACE SHIT WITHOUT WARNING-“ The heavy door closed, cutting off the rest of the argument and putting the trio into silence. The silence didn’t remain. Mass began to chatter about anything and everything and the girl-Cali began to grill Texas on what she knew about vehicles.

By the end of the day Texas and bravo were on their way to Bravo’s base: Outpost Blood Gulch Alpha. The Director had been forced to let Bravo keep Texas for a month and a half in exchange for the team not reporting his behavior.

And the Counselor, with Agent Texas now an adopted member of Bravo, was one step closer to winning the bet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yea Tex has a lot of PTSD for only having maybe a full year of memory.
> 
> So that was a bit of my rant of grenades. Thanks to binge watching Mythbusters in between my classes I know the range of a grenade and how dangerous they are in this scene. Grenades are super dangerous and everyone really should not be alive after Maine pulled the clip. Especially since the training room was a pressurized, enclosed area. Because it’s the pressure within the 50 ft. radius that kills a person not the shrapnel, like most people think. Not just York was at risk from that blast.
> 
> In no way am I trying to criticize the creators or Red vs Blue. The idea and story of their work is great! I’m just being annal and using this as an excuse to rip on the Director. Who was supposed to be a well educated man who probably took a lot of engineering courses . So he should have known this. The creators probably haven’t taken over two dozen physics classes so I really don’t blame them for this issue. They did a great job with what they knew and the entire fight scene went much better than my attempt turned out to be.
> 
> As for the gun Mass used? I’m just gonna say it was one of the “magic guns” from the first season that didn’t need to be reloaded.
> 
> Hopefully it won't be two and a half months until the next update  
> lots of love  
> ~Spazz


	15. Interludes and Interrogations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hampshire and CT have an encounter. Both try to get a good read on the other with... varying levels of success. Hampshire also comes to a few conclusions and decisions with some help from Mont in a true red fashion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!!! This is a little bit shorter period of time than the two and a half months the last chapter took and look its 11649 words long!! Sorry to everyone that commented on it. I was hoping to force myself to finish the chapter. But it took very long. I'm sorry for the delay, but your comments and kudos really pushed me to finish this. I hope you enjoy it!!!!
> 
> PS. If your disappointed I'm late blame CT, because she was really hard to write in this chapter and I'm still not completely sure I did her right. If you have any feedback or advice on how I could do better I'm all ears

Connie was sneaking through the base.

Ham didn’t know _why_ especially at asscrack o’clock, but she was sneaking through the base. She had already cased out the “red” workshops, four of the “red” storage rooms, the kitchen, half the bedrooms and bathrooms. She had woken up Mont and Vern in the beginning of her search under the guise of “looking for the kitchen.” Although the two had quickly fallen back asleep once Ham had signaled he was watching her.

The only reason Ham was awake and able to watch her as he went through Kai’s paperwork was because he didn’t sleep well with strangers in his house. He never had, he never would. He didn’t trust strangers enough to deeply sleep. Especially when his baby sister was in the same area as said strangers. Pretend to sleep, sure, he’d done it hundreds of thousands of times. But that was usually to get out of work or watch a target to let them out themselves.

He had learned at a very young age that people tended to reveal more when they thought no one was looking. Or at least no one important. When he had taught Kai the same thing, she had done her damn best to be someone that nobody would take seriously at first glance. Regardless of what it did to his blood pressure.

Unfortunately, none of that was helpful at the moment. Kai was out cold after a week of restless nights and he had been forced to take Tex seriously during his spar or forgo his ass. Neither would be very helpful at the moment. Not to mention that when Asshole Squad had demanded that they take up half the bunks they had forced Bravo to double up instead of share with someone from the other squad. That meant even _pretending to_ sleep was useless because Ham couldn’t watch anyone in his room. Well unless he wanted to watch Vern, and Ham was in no way _that_ fucked up.

So here he was. Sitting in semidarkness, next to the rope trap North Dakota had been stuck in earlier, right outside the nerve center in just his pajama bottoms with a cup of coco. Waiting for the agent to come outside.

He was hoping to get a little more insight on whether or not Connie could be their mole.

After about twelve hours observing her and the rest of Asshole Squad, **_Connie_** was the most likely suspect. While the others had all been verging levels of invasive and annoying, **_she_** had stood out the most.

_She_ had been the one asking the most questions about their operations at dinner. Vern had mentioned that _she_ had practically interrogated the team about how he had faired against Tex during the betting pool. _She_ had been vocal about wanting to explore the canyon after the movie. She had even been caught, literally caught, sneaking around the cave system.

Unfortunately, even all of that _together_ wasn’t conclusive.

She could just as easily be another one of D.C.’s dumbass lackies, sent to spy on (sabotage) them. He hadn’t sent anyone in the last few months, so they were due for another attempt soon. Or some sap looking to clear their mind with a midnight stroll, gazing at the stars. She could even just a curious idiot who wanted to know what “the lights” were but didn’t want to sound stupid by asking and didn’t understand the safety precautions literally everyone had repeated to them before lights out.

With the group of assholes that made up the project _that_ particular option was very likely.

So here Ham was. Sitting in the open night air, drinking lukewarm coco in his pajamas. Waiting to see what Connie would do and how she would act when she was alone.

Ham waited.

Connie checked the kennels. Closing the door before she could wake any of the dogs, thus waking the rest of the base. She checked the laundry room. The room was full of the weeks laundry, everything sorted and ready for when Virg decided to start it.

Here she hesitated.

It looked like she was considering _something_ as she stood in the doorway for a full minute. _What_ she needed to consider in the _laundry room_ of all places? Ham had no idea. But when she only closed the door without doing anything it was still inconclusive. She could easily claim to have been trying to remember where she was. It wasn’t like any of them had asked for a tour.

Ham watched the cameras as Connie continued down the hallway. Failing to find any of the passageways that would lead her into the nerve center or blue base. Towards his sleeping sister and her mentally fragile best friends.

Passageways, Connie knew were there from her questioning of Washington.

She had caught him on his way to Blue Base just before bed and not so quietly interrogated him on where he had been all day. Washington hadn’t been able to fend her off without help and Virg hadn’t been able to catch him before he had spilled about the passageways. Thankfully Virg had managed to rescue him before Connie could get anything else out of him.

It was a good sign that Washington’s first instinct hadn’t been to share everything with his team, especially when he realized that they didn’t know about the passageways or other safety features. Even under threat he had held strong. But it was a troubling was sign that he had almost folded completely when Connie had played up the “worried teammate” card to get him to talk.

How bad was it for the guy on the MoI that a few over dramatic words and poor acting almost got him to spill about a personal, private moment he hadn’t wanted share?

Even if Washington had been forced to admit to “his friend” that he thought there _were_ secret passages in the base. He had no way of knowing _where_ the hidden passageways were or _where_ they led to. It was probably a good thing too. The poor guy probably would have ended up apologizing to everyone instead of just his rescuer if he had spilled much more than just his suspicions that the walls moved.

Virg wasn’t going to live that very public conversation down any time soon. Especially with how pink he and Washington had turned.

After every comment Virg had made about Ham and Vern, **Vengeance** would be sweet.

Thankfully, what Connie and Washington has no way of knowing was that the passageways were not only hidden but also closed off. They had been since Alpha had left the bases after dinner. Even if the security doors to the passageways hadn’t blended into the wall the only way to open them was for a person with clearance and who knew where the door was to lead them into the hallway.

The doors had originally been put in when TJ started toddling. They had wanted a way to keep him from getting into the more dangerous parts of the base. When they had tried the “usual” baby proofing methods like little fences and hollow, wooden doors in the doorways the responses had been less than ideal. They had ended up with ripped fences and shattered doors after the first try.

Most of it Mass’s fault.

Not that they _should have_ expected Mass to be able to handle baby proof door handles. Or anyone else for that matter. Half of their team hadn’t seen a real wooden swinging door in the last five years. Why would any of them know how to operate a baby proof doorknob when all space crafts, Simulation bases, and vehicle doors were metal and most of them automatic? Why would any of the space-heads know how to operate a childproof door handle?

It had take Kai two hours to teach Penny for fucks sake! The self appointed baby specialist!

They hadn’t even tried a second time after their first attempt failed. As soon as they swept away the debris, metallic automated doors had been put in their place. With biometric sensors to keep any unwanted life forms from entering or exiting the hallway without a chaperone. Penny had demanded they put a facade over it so that the dark metallic colors didn’t ruin the “homie aesthetic” of the hallways.

The result had been hidden passages that only approved people could find.

The setup drove D.C. and Price nuts when they couldn’t find the door after walking through it. Ham might have given VIC some unauthorized upgrades to get that to happen. He could only do it once to Mont. But the look on his face when he kept walking into doors had been worth the extra strategic exercises he had forced Ham through.

Especially because the punishment could have been running. Would have been if he hadn’t taken the heat for doing it to D.C. when he had come the first time and every time he decided to visit after.

It was still worth it.

Ham was brought out of his musing when Connie finally found the exit. He saved his work before he shifted himself into a more comfortable laying position.

If she was looking for the nerve center, or “cerebrum” as Vern called it, then the only way there was directly past Ham. If she was looking for VIC she would head back to the caves where she had been caught before. If she was just looking for fresh air then she would go in literally any other direction.

Ham made sure that his datapad only displayed the paperwork he was working on. No sense in getting caught watching her. Especially if Kai and Virg found out. They would tease him about “cheating on Vern” and then Vern would pout and whine if he heard them.

They would all be insufferable if that happened.

Connie finally made it outside. Standing by the entrance until her eyes adjusted to the total darkness that came with living in the middle of nowhere.

Ham wasn’t sure if it was a sign of intelligence or stupidity when he saw she was wearing a black bodysuit instead of her brown power armor outside. Especially after she had refused to take it off after they had all been properly been introduced and reassured that Asshole Squad was safe here.

Intelligent because a lighter figure was quiet and quick. Her armor-less frame would be fast and hard to find on security cameras. It also wouldn’t wake everyone up as she moved through hallways.

Stupid because she had been warned at least three separate times that it was dangerous to go through the canyon without clearance. She had already been caught up in one of the safer traps. Being quiet or fast wouldn’t protect her from any of Mont’s crazy protective traps.

Or the bear trap on the south ridge. Either was a valid option at this point.

Finally, Connie seemed to have adjusted to the darkness. She began to sneak towards him. Or as close to sneak as someone used to wearing bulky armor could in an unfamiliar terrain.

Ham quietly sighed, sinking just slightly deeper into his chair. He didn’t need to open his eyes to know she wasn’t looking at him. She was currently cursing at a divot in the ground she had just tripped over thirty feet away. By the time she looked up her gaze would be firmly fixed on the nerve center, completely missing the shaded figure right in front of her. If Connie hadn’t seen him when she had first started over here then she would be completely oblivious to his presence until she was on top of him.

Unless she did see him and thought being as noisy as possible was a good stealth move.

Ham didn’t twitch as he heard Connie pick herself up and start moving towards him again. Completely heedless of any eyes on her.

Overconfidence in her abilities then.

That was why she wasn’t wearing armor. She was confident that she could make it around the canyon without being caught. Confident that her dark suit and hair could hide her from any cameras. Confident that she was skilled enough that she didn’t need to worry about any traps set, that the one she had fallen for had been a fluke. Confident that she knew the base well enough that every door would open for her with a little push and a lock-pick.

She was still a few yards off.

That pretty much summed up this whole “Alpha” group Ham supposed. Over confidence in being able to beat their opponents that ranked lower than them based on some system. The same BS system Ham was 85% certain was a random number generator that could be modified to suit the mood of D&C. Overconfident in their abilities to the degree of thinking teamwork was unnecessary, even a hinderance. Overconfidence in “their way” being the best way to the point that they don’t even consider a different method might actually be better.

That overconfidence would get them killed.

Get them all killed.

If Ham knew Tex and the rest of his team as well as he thought he did. Alpha would die from overconfidence. They would get stuck in a problem way over their heads and wouldn’t ask for or even want Bravo’s help to preserve their pride. Bravo would go down trying to pull their blazing, ungrateful asses out of the fire.

Ham focused on trying to look as asleep as possible as Connie finally noticed him next to the locked door and began to approach much more quietly than she had before.

What would she do?

Would she ignore him and go back to the base once she made sure he hadn’t seen anything?

Would she just walk past him further into the canyon, not wanting to risk breaking into a building with a sleeping guard?

Would she still try and access the nerve center with him “sound asleep” literally next to the door?

Would she try and wake him and have him guide her somewhere?

Would she take his obviously unlocked datapad to try and find out what was on it?

Ham was prepared for any choice she made. Mont was probably still awake. Not trusting Ham enough to pull this off on his own. He and Ricco would be watching her every move. They would know if she was violent and managed to force him into doing anything. Or if she “just killed him in his sleep.” As Mont had offered to do multiple times when Ham had slept anywhere outside of his room.

If she did manage to actually take and hide a datapad from a “sleepy” or dead Hampshire. She would only find supply drops for the fully documented SIM sites she should already know about and a few fake porn sites that revealed the security feed of cameras when you hit play.

They weren’t a concern if Connie actually tried to watch anything. VIC didn’t let anything that could harm his system through and monitored any internet traffic that went through. The security feeds would only play after a loud three minute long “ad” that Doc and Virg had added onto the security system on a dare. It was an awkward video detailing the importance of cleaning _toy products_. More than enough time to “wake” Ham up or bring the others on top of her if she actually shot him.

There was no better way to camouflage the camera feed then in a way they would keep any of the impassive, emotionally repressed, stuck ups of the project from checking in it. Besides they were a group of eight, fully grown men and Kai. If they didn’t have some form of porn laying around it might look suspicious.

Usually a bio-sig would get any member of Bravo off the ad before it could begin, Price and D.C. had to suffer through the ad, but Connie didn’t have one on the system. If she tried to watch it she would not only die from mortification as she woke up half the base with a very loud advertisement for sex safety, but she would also immediately alert VIC and Ricco to her movements and be stuck with the buffering pinwheel of death as the “website” tried to load a video called **“ASSORTED KINKS AND HOW TO USE THEM TO YOUR ADVANTAGE”** when the it finished.

With his eyes closed and face lax Ham waited as Connie came to stand beside his “sleeping” form. For two straight minutes Ham waited. He barely moved, didn’t twitch, he only focused on breathing steadily. If she had a gun on her, she might kill him if she thought he was watching her. If he was being honest, she might just kill him for being in the vicinity of her trip earlier if she was anything like the rest of her squad.

Breath steadily like a sleeping person.

Ham heard her feet as she took a few more steps towards him. Idiot. He was supposed to be sleeping not deaf. She would have woken anyone on base with her footsteps unless they were as exhausted as Kai had been.

There were hands on his chest and on his stomach, nails scratching against him almost breaking his skin.

**_Claws hooked there and ripped the metallic armor from his torso to examine something. The rough motion caused welts to raise and bleed on his torso as heavy plaiting was reduced to scraps with the flick of a wrist._ **

His own hands were moving to grip wrists much smaller than his before they could rip into his stomach like they had to the civilians before him. He felt a small weight fall into his stomach.

**The weight of a datapad**

Logic finally got the better of reflexes.

Ham forced his eyes open and his body upright before he could relive more of that nightmare.

He caught sight the dark sky, it was different from the auburn skies and crumbling barracks of his memories.

He could hear the quiet movement of the grass and trees of the canyon, not the sounds of a micro colony dying around him.

He glanced towards his bracelet; all nine colored beads slightly muted. Even the usually bright yellow and dark ebony were dim with sleep. Not green tinted like they were on the verge of dying or white like they were dead.

Everyone was alive and safe. Just sleeping.

Finally, Ham forced himself to look away from his bracelet towards the gasping Connie. She looked pale, her eyes were wild, her hair was disheveled like it had been put out of place by a fight with a wild animal not just jerking away from a sleeping person. She was rubbing her wrists. Not in a “I’m badly hurt, something is broken” way more like a “light slap on the wrist and startled by it” way.

Ham had known that Connie would have had to brush her hands against him to take the datapad. He had been expecting the contact. He just hadn’t been expecting her to grab it by scratching her nails against his torso.

She would have made a normal person startle awake with that approach. Much less trained soldiers that you would find on the MoI or SIM bases. Was she really that overconfident in her so called * _stealth_ * skills that she thought he would have slept through that?

Ham stared at his attacker for a minute longer. Connie was still looking at her wrist instead of him. She had clearly been expecting him to sleep through that and had been spooked by his sudden jerky motion. Ham took the time Connie needed to recover and reassure himself of everything.

_Just a waking nightmare. Nothing was going to hurt his team right now._

Especially not a terrible spy that didn’t even know how to take a datapad from a sleeping person.

“What the HELL were you doing?” Ham knew his voice was edging on hysterical. But he didn’t mind, he could use that. His freak out was over. His mind was slowing down enough for him to plan now.

“I was trying to wake you up.” Ham shot her an incredulous look at that response. She was finally looking at him.

“By scaring me awake?” Ham looked at her. She wasn’t holding her wrist and she didn’t have a bruise. He hadn’t hurt her.

“Haven’t you ever been told to let sleeping bears lay? I could have hurt you.” That seemed to give her some of her old spunk back.

“Yea right. I’m fine I could have handled you attacking me.” She finally met his eyes with the same glare she had given Virg during dinner.

Let the game begin.

“You mean like you “handled” Ricco and the simulator this morning? Or how you handled the light field this afternoon?” Ham shot back, his hand flying up to use air quotes for handled. Time to see what she would admit to.

“Like how I destroyed a dozen of your holograms before my gun jammed. I’m the ninth slot on the leaderboard, your twenty. I would hope that I could take down someone eleven spots beneath me.”

And so they argued. Each trying to get information from the other without giving anything important away. Both with varying degrees of success. The argument managed to last a whole hour before Ham finally ended it.

She was a spy alright. But not one of the usual technology thieves or political moles from other UNSC departments that Bravo usually dealt with.

Connie was different.

Who she was sending her info to and why, was yet to be determined. She couldn’t be doing this for money like the techie spies. If she was she would’ve been asking a lot more questions on Vern and the simulators. Nor was she doing this because she was ordered to. Connie had too much passion in her behavior for her to be on orders from a higher up, D.C. or any other stiff suit that might have wanted to know more about their operations.

That begged the quest. Who was Agent Connecticut spying for?

And why did she think her handlers would be so interested in Bravo and TJ? Most groups were far more interested in the weapons and defense systems than the people that made them. Any interest in Bravo was a bad sign when there were so many other things they could be interested in.

Truthfully, any interest in TJ would be normal. The Director and Counselor have both been interested in TJ. The Director for something along the lines of alien technology that only seemed to work with aliens. The Counselor because Virg had been a person of interest and the kid was his ticket to getting him on his team. It was the only reason Virg had agreed to stay on.

When his choices were working with Freelancer to develop weapons using stolen alien tech with a group that would allow him to raise his son in a safe environment or complete separation from the two week old baby as both were experimented on and dissected by some other government organization to find answers. It was a no brainer even for Virg.

An alien child was not anything normal, even for a top-secret SHIELD level shit Freelancer dealt with. But at least the two were safe with Bravo. Mass had claimed Virg as a “souvenir” from their first mission, refusing to let the man out of his sight for long until he regained consciousness. When the Counselor had made his offer, it had really just been a formality. Regardless of how everyone might have felt with getting the poor guy and his son involved they knew there wasn’t much choice in the matter. Tucker and Junior had been a part of the team the moment they had found a very pregnant SIM soldier. Everyone had grown attached to the duo during the entire debacle. Even if nobody but Penny and Kai would willingly admit anything as mushy as loving the father and son, everyone would admit to wanting to protect the two.

But somehow Connie was a different kind of interested than any of them had seen. Different from the dozens of military bigwigs they had encountered and politely told off ~~threatened bodily harm on~~ during the approximately three years since TJ had been born. Different from the scientists that had tried to sweet talk them into “examining” the toddler. Even different from the other soldiers they had encountered that had asked about training TJ into acting as a sleeper agent against alien forces.

She had been trying to ask about how they had gotten him. Mostly by accusing Ham of being a kidnapper. She had been acting like them having an alien baby was _wrong_. But not the usual wrong that they dreaded having to explain to TJ when he got older. Wrong like they had taken TJ from his planet and family and were trying to hurt him. Like they were the warmongering, abusive government assholes trying to experiment on the poor kid.

Usually that would be a good sign. That she cared about how beings were being treated. That would have been enough for them to request her to spend some time on the base to get to know more about her. To have her on their team instead of the kindhearted rookie Tex had vouched for. Would have been enough, _should_ _have_ been enough.

But something was _off_ about the whole thing. Had been off since Tex had first spoken about her. One minute she was talking about how the leaderboard was designed to make people fail and hate each other. Big **_duh_** there. The next she was trying to pull rank on him and talk down to the “twentieth slot” to get him to tell her something.

Big whoop. He was higher than Mont on that stupid board, if he tried to so much as order Mont to pass the chips he would be running laps till his legs fell off. So, he hadn’t said anything. She had been close to spilling _something_ a few times when Ham had just flat out denied her questions.

_What_ she thought she could share that would change his mind; he had no idea.

Ham let out a sigh as he picked up the long abandoned datapad from the chair. So many questions with so little answers. He needed to sleep. This was just too much effort right now.

With one more glance towards the still steaming woman he turned around and began to lead Connie back to her room. It was late, they were both tired. He still needed to report back to Mont before he went back his own room to warn Vern.

If Connie was trying to be the friendly one of her team, Vern and Kai would need to know about her double agent status before they left.

*>*>*>*>*>*>*>*

CT was concerned.

She was concerned because any other word for the emotion she was currently feeling would mean that she was not thinking clearly. That she wasn’t in control.

Not that anything from the last thirty-six hours could be classified as “under control.”

When the Director and Counselor had first called the top agents to the briefing room CT had known that this would be an unusual mission. The fact that the calm and collected Counselor had decided to raise his voice was enough to peak any interests. Especially when he and the Director had announced the new recruit would be joining them. Over a full year with only a handful of small, one-man missions. Suddenly the whole team was going on a big mission to some top-secret base that had the big cheeses arguing.

This secret base **_had_** to be a big deal.

CT had thought that the Base might be a good place to recover data for the insurgents. If she had managed to get some time alone, she might have been able to send delicate information to them without worrying about it being intercepted like she did on the Mother of Invention.

If she was careful CT could even remove info from the Base’s files before they were uploaded to the Mother of Invention. No one would have looked twice at missing data from a demolished base. Or corrupted data that could place a Trojan horse into Freelancer systems.

The bizarre encounter with an obviously brain damaged SPARTAN when this mission started was the first unexpected hurdle. Unexpected but not a problem. Florida had handed the idiot quickly. CT hadn’t been too concerned by it. Judging the blue figures one sided conversation he could have been the only one left alive after the entire place was decimated.

CT had been thrilled when Carolina had decided to split up instead of looking around. She had been given the perfect opportunity to gather data without having to share the info with Freelancer. While everyone had been descending into the canyon, CT had begun a wireless hack of the base’s systems. With Florida and Wyoming no longer visiting the mainframe in the caves she didn’t have to worry about them discovering her downloading everything.

The wireless upload would allow CT to copy all the data wirelessly and most importantly untraceable to her. On the off chance that she was unable to get away and implement the Trojan horse she at least wanted a copy of all the data she could get her hands on.

When she and North has snuck into the base’s she had been pleased. North would be one of the easiest to sneak anything past. He was always distracted when he was separated from South. It would be a piece of cake to make a copy and pocket of anything she found during one of his many check ins with Wash and South. If South got into any trouble CT wouldn’t need a reason to send North away while she sent the transmission. North would leave her alone to rescue his sister.

Losing contact with Wash and Maine hadn’t even been a blip on her radar. Not even when Wash had screamed out then they had lost contact. The rookie was jumpy and always screamed when he was surprised. It was why he was put with Maine. It to mention that range communication had been rocky, often cutting out at random intervals, nothing that they hadn’t dealt with before. Nothing _she_ hadn’t caused before.

It hadn’t occurred to CT that there was an actual _threat_ in the canyon.

The brown armored idiot they had come across hadn’t been a problem either. She had thought he would just be some robot wearing armor, running repair work. She had seen some SIM bases put robots in armor to make it seem like they had more manpower than they really did. No real threat from a dumb bucket of bolts that didn’t even know it’s base had been decimated.

She had only been corrected in the figures sentient status after he had turned and began speaking. Even then CT hadn’t been worried, just mildly annoyed. It was one unarmed SIM soldier against her and North. They could take him on if North couldn’t get him to surrender.

She had only gotten nervous when the lights began flashing and alarms began sounding. She had taken up a defensive position against North to prevent any sneak attacks from a previously hidden enemy.

Suddenly they had been surrounded.

CT hadn’t known what had happened. One minute they were taking some guy into custody the next she and North had been surrounded by buys with weapons ranging for deadly to ridiculous. Who fought an enemy with a slingshot? She and North had held them off well. Their numbers couldn’t have been infinite and they would succeed eventually.

Then her gun had jammed.

CT had been angry then. Of all the times for her gun to jam. She had needed North to cover her while she fixed it. She hadn’t been too worried. North was good, he could handle the guys until she could get her gun fixed. He should have been fine even if he was hit with a hammer. His helmet should have protected his head from any injuries.

North Dakota had fallen on her without so much of a whisper of warning.

CT had been ready to abandon North and find the others herself when his dead weight had landed on top of her. She had the golden opportunity to send a transmission while she looked for the others. If she could just get out of the room she could send the info while she moved to Blue base.

She had managed to fix her gun and use North’s dead weight as a human shield long enough to get past the wave of soldiers that had surrounded her. She had lost sight of the brown figure shortly after she had been surrounded and hadn’t thought of him beyond shooting him for the inconvenience.

When CT had caught sight of him near a terminal she knew she would have to take the shot. If he alerted the entire base to the teams arrival not only would she lose every opportunity to send any information to the insurance but she would never hear the end of it if she set off another alarm on a mission. She was barely hanging onto the ninth place if she dropped much lower she might lose opportunities to gather more info. And some of her more suspicious actions might come under scrutiny.

CT had seen the same hammer that had knocked North out being thrown at her by one of the golden troops as she lined up her shot. She had avoided it and made the shot, missing the man’s hand but nailing the terminal. The man’s swearing had almost been worth the loss of the terminal.

CT had been so caught up in her escape that she had missed the sudden appearance of another golden trooper with the same hammer as before form right in front of her. She had only caught sight of the armored figure right before he hit her.

She was out cold before she could register that the hammer wasn’t a normal battle hammer like in museums.

CT had woken up on top of North in an unfamiliar room unable to move. She had seen her entire team, even 479er frozen around her, all trapped in armorlock. Wyoming had been in front of her, being straddled by a figure in Teal armor looking like they were going to hit him.

She hadn’t even thought it possible to activate armorlock outside of the training room on the Mother of Invention. Much less work on non-combatant armor like pilots over five miles away.

There was a figure in red standing across from them. Standing behind him was Agent Texas, positioned as if she was being protected by the man. To the Agent’s sides were figures in a dark red and pink. There was also the blue SPARTAN figure along with the same gold and brown armor CT and North had been facing off against before.

All fourteen figures had been frozen facing each other. Some with their arms raised or positioned like they were firing a missing gun. A few were positioned like they were falling or moving when armorlock had been engaged. Others were positioned like CT and north; like they had just been dropped on top of each other. Some were just standing

And then there was Wyoming and whoever he was fighting.

CT had been brought out of her thoughts before she could make fun of Wyoming by motion in the shattered window three floors above them. That had been when a figure had appeared in the shattered windowsill shouting about tools. CT had been unable to see the figure clearly with the distance between them.

The voice had been distinctly feminine but unknown. The body that came with it was just as unfamiliar. The figure that came down the stairs carrying a bright red toolbox was wearing some tacky Lara Croft video game type clothing with her hair loosely tied at the nape of her neck. Her skin was a caramel color and her hair was as dark as Texas’s armor. Her face was coated in grime and grease as she seemed to argue with the dark red figure about how she should mess with a helmet sized object.

The one holding them all hostage was a kid with a screwdriver.

Joy.

CT kept playing dead even as the kid worked. If she was stupid enough to let over a dozen armed soldiers go without even handcuffing them CT wasn’t going to correct her. CT had been prepared to attack the kid and demand answers as soon as she regained motor functions. She had been ready when the girl had activated the device with a handheld remote, deactivating armorlock and allowing her captives to move. CT had been prepared to take the kid down with her bare hands and demand answers.

She hadn’t been ready for South to throw her off of North a second before she could move to attack.

CT had collided with the floor hard enough to knock the wind out of her. By the time she had regained her bearings Carolina was giving instructions not to attack the colorful idiots just yet and Texas was being ushered upstairs by the colorful head-cases.

When they had managed to follow Texas up the stairs into some kind of mission control room she hadn’t been expecting to see them all working like CT and the others weren’t there. She hadn’t expected them to ignore direct questions from trained killers either.

CT hadn’t believed that these people were SIM troopers, they were too coordinated and efficient to be cannon fodder. But there was no way they were Insurgents or Freelancers. They were too undisciplined and out there. She would know about an Insurgents team like _that_ and even the Triplets were better trained and more respectful than these asses.

The announcement that these guys ran “Command” half of Freelancers’ intelligence operations had to be the biggest joke Agent Texas had ever told. The idea that these _idiots_ could run one SIM base without killing everyone was laughable. Much less running all SIM bases under the projects control. It had to be a joke.

Or it was the biggest opportunity CT would ever have to gather evidence against Freelancer.

If she could access to their records she would gain an unfathomable advantage for the Insurgents. Not just SIM bases that weren’t on official records but equipment and weapons in development. It was too good an opportunity to let slip through her fingers. Even if the upload did work she doubted she had enough storage space on a single stick to cover even a quarter of that information.

CT hadn’t been concerned with anything beyond gaining that information.

Until the door opened and a small figure flew into Texas’s arms.

CT had reacted before she properly registered what the figure was. She had taken a step back and moved to draw a weapon that wasn’t there in the time it took to recognize a tiny alien in Texas’s arms. The being couldn’t be older than four years old, a toddler at best. Before she could do anything with the new information, CT was frozen and Florida was being dragged out by the kid.

There was more than just information on this base worth stealing.

When the call was finally made and introductions began CT had been paying close attention to everyone. Any information on the little alien and this group would come in handy. Their code names, behaviors, anything they let slip. Once they left CT could start planning an Insurgent attack using any other information the kid and Vermont might let out during their stay on the Mother of Invention. Anything CT could get her hands on would be helpful, especially their Leaderboard ranks.

Once Wash and Texas returned to the Mother of Invention it would be a piece of cake for an Insurgent team to take out communication and overrun the base. They would have a goldmine of information from this one base. It they managed to take out communications before they attacked Freelancer wouldn’t know they were missing with the track record this team seemed to have with updating the Mother of Invention. If it was done right the entire base could be stripped of all traces of info before another team was sent.

The ranks of the Bravo team on the Leaderboard had been shocking. The highest ranking member was Virginia at sixteen and the lowest was the injured California at thirty five. Not exactly the bottom of the barrel but with Texas and Washington out of the way they wouldn’t be a problem.

CT had been one of the first out the door as soon as introductions were over. She needed to check her data stick and see if she could find the actual mainframe of the base. If she could download a delayed virus into the system to she could cause communication failures that would buy the Insurgents time during their attack.

When she had checked the stick on her way out of the basement it had been empty.

CT’s heart had dropped into her stomach. There was no way for the download to be traced back to her but if the hack had been noticed then this Bravo team might be suspicious of CT and her team. She had resolved to find the mainframe herself and manually copy the base’s defense data before erasing all traces of her involvement before it could be noticed.

Wondering into that training field with the others had been the best opportunity she would get at such short notice.

With everyone distracted by the simulation CT was able to slip away towards the cave openings unnoticed. She was able to make it far into the cave, she hadn’t risked turning on only kind of lighting on the off chance that she might be seen by any members of Bravo. Even if all of them had stated where they were going to be, lying wasn’t hard and it would be a lot harder to explain why CT was there if she was caught than demand to know why they weren’t where they had said they would be.

But that had been a mistake.

CT had somehow missed the trigger for some kind of trap in the darkness. Before she realized she had triggered something CT was stuck inside some kind of light cage. There was no way out and no way to deactivate the trap from where she was.

CT had spent the next twenty minutes trying to get out before Virginia had found her.

After another twenty minutes of **_discussion_** with Virginia, about her _manners_ of all things, CT had finally been released. Fortunately he had assumed she was exploring and hadn’t asked why she was down there, only rebuked her for not telling anyone of what she was doing. Unfortunately CT hadn’t been able to finish her mission. Instead she had been led to have _dinner_ with everyone.

CT had done her best to take everything in stride, trying to get more info on Bravo’s operations during dinner. Subtly recording the entire thing with her helmet. She also found comfort that they couldn’t be into her right now. If they were they wouldn’t have let her see their faces and risk identifying them for the Insurgents.

When they had been ushered out CT had regretted not leaving her helmet there when the others hadn’t joined them right away. If she had left it there she could have found out what they had been talking about. Instead she was stuck dealing with Massachusetts and _Wash_ of all people telling them that exploring the canyon was a bad idea. She had tried to get away during the chaos of the entire debacle but the big guy had grabbed her and put her in the dog pile before she could get far.

CT had been stuck with the entire group for the rest of the evening with no other chances to slip away.

Although the fight between Texas and Hampshire had been informative on how to better defend against Texas and the “home movies” had told her more about the canyon CT hadn’t been able to get anything else noteworthy. She had tried once more to explore the canyon, being careful to have South and the others speak enough to make her attempts seem unremarkable. But Montana hadn’t been swayed.

The team had been put to bed like a bunch of misbehaving kids.

The team had been split into pairs and scattered across the bases for the night. Carolina with 479er, Wyoming with Florida, and Texas went to blue base. Texas managing to beat CT to the punch and doubling up with California. York, Maine, South, CT, Wash and North were sent to red base.

CT had missed her chance to get any information out of the exhausted California or figure out where the little alien was. She couldn’t even risk snooping through the commandeered room for anything on the off chance that whoever actually lived there noticed.

CT was stuck waiting for South to fall asleep before she could begin properly investigating.

When CT was positive South was asleep, she had snuck out and began exploring red base. She had left her armor behind so she wouldn’t wake South with her arrival or departures and had grabbed attached a micro recorder to her under suit for anything she found. She had a few close calls with Montana and Vermont in the beginning, a few whispered apology’s and excuses about finding the kitchen had gotten her out of being lead back to South with a guard.

But there was still no sign of the little alien in any in the sleeping quarters. She still didn’t know where the purple guy and pink girl were, they might have been watching him. Or he might be with Texas and California in blue base. CT had explored everything in red base, recording the layout and potential holes in security that would be useful later. She had paused in the laundry room. Hesitating on whether or not it was worth the risk of running a DNA test to determine if the alien really had a human parent on the base.

CT had decided against it, there were too many pictures of the alien at varying sizes displayed on the walls for Bravo to have kidnapped them from somewhere. Besides there was too much attachment and care for the little guy to just be a part of the mission. And with only two females on Bravo, CT would be able to determine which was the child’s parent during California’s stay on the Mother of Invention.

CT thought it would be Pennsylvania, the woman had been strict in how Montana had behaved around the child and Delaware’s concern could be from an unofficial Step-Father status that came with being involved with their mother. But California wasn’t out of the running just yet. She was kind and gentle with the baby and had been comfortable with holding them while she argued with the Director. Whatever injury she was recovering from could have been caused by some kind of complication with giving birth to an alien.

Ultimately, the risk hadn’t been worth it. The missing clothing would be noticed if CT had tried to take it back to the Mother of Invention to have it be analyzed. Besides only two people on Bravo were capable of bringing life into the world. It wouldn’t be too hard to figure out which one it was during the month California was on the Mother of invention.

CT had left the laundry room undisturbed and began to make her way outside. She still needed to hide her hack and try and download some of the floor plans.

Once CT had made it outside she had been torn. Should she go to to the “nerve center” that they had been in earlier and gain the information that was there or should she try the caves again? The caves would undoubtedly have more traps and if she was caught in there again she would be suspected for sure. But would the basement have what she needed?

CT decided to try the basement first, she had seen plenty of file cabinets and terminals during her time in the control room to fill twenty data sticks. If she couldn’t gain access to the mainframe from there then she would go to the caves. The basement was closer and would be easier to break into. If she was caught she could use an excuse of wanting to train to calm her nerves.

CT had traveled across the darkened land leisurely. There was a slim chance of any kind of surveillance outside. Besides if there was it might take hours or even days for them to find her darkened figure in what had to be hours with of footage. Even then there was definite way they could confirm she had been up to anything if she stuck to the terminals and covered her tracks.

CT hadn’t seen Hampshire sleeping until she was practically on top of him.

She should have been suspicious of his sudden appearance. He was right outside the deep asleep. CT had been ready to leave him be and continue down into the basement. If he hadn’t woken up with CT approaching him then he was probably as heavy of a sleeper as California. Besides, it would be a good alibi if he was here while she went downstairs.

A flash of light on Hampshire’s stomach had stopped her from going anywhere.

The screensaver for the datapad Hampshire has been working on has flickered out to be replaced with what he must have been working on. The words **“TOP SECRET SUPPLY UPDATE”** were in big bold letters at the top of the screen.

It was too good to be true. But if this guy was stupid enough to be looking over top secret paperwork outside then who was CT to pass up that opportunity? She probably should have waited until she came back from the basement if she was going to take the datapad. Or at lease been more careful with how she handled the datapad. Even if Hampshire had been sleeping like a log, she could have tried to be more quiet. But he hadn’t stirred when she approached and didn’t even move when she stood over him he should have been able to sleep through he taking the datapad.

Hindsight was always 20-20.

CT had been startled when Hampshire had started to move. But she had tried to be quiet when she first caught sight of Hampshire moving. Her first instinct was that it was just a reflex. She had seen Maine do it hundreds of times to Wash. Usually when the Rookie had tried to move something out of the big guys hands when he had felled asleep after training.

She had nearly screamed when the hard grip had closed around her wrist stronger than anything Maine could do while sleeping. She had yanked back hard when he had began pulling her forward. Afraid that she had been discovered CT dropped the datapad and ripped her wrist out of Hampshire’s grasp.

She thought he might have been on to her. Trying to catch her in the act of stealing information. But he had been just as surprised as she had been when he opened his eyes. Like he hadn’t realized he had grabbed her. He looked like he had been startled awake from a nightmare.

Hampshire took some time to reorient himself. CT allowed him that time, gripping her wrist tightly. Then he began to question her. CT was ready for that. She had planned on how to answer any questions thrown her way, and if she managed to play up the injured card she might be able to get more out of him.

Even if she had been leading the argument the orange guy had been tight lipped about everything and anything. He hadn’t divulged anything about the safety features or his teammates. He had even ended up questioning her at some points. Whether it was from being startled awake or actual suspicions CT couldn’t tell.

She would have to be careful around him moving forward.

Hampshire had finally led her to where she and South had been put up for the night. He saw her into her room and made certain that the door was locked from the inside like a good first date would. His steps were slow as if he was expecting CT to try again. She wouldn’t, getting caught once was enough. She wouldn’t risk everything she had gathered with another attempt on the mainframe.

She would leave _that_ to the recovery team.

But CT would have to watch Hampshire tomorrow. If he suspected anything from her and warned California or Vermont then she might not have enough info to properly plan an attack on this base. She couldn’t let that happen.

What was here was too important to lose to an idiot that didn’t understand how manipulative the Project really was. That didn’t understand what was here and what value it had.

CT was going to succeed, no matter what.

The fate of the universe depended on it.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Ham sighed as he made sure CT was in her room with South Dakota before he even considered returning back to his bunk. He was exhausted but his brain was still running a mile a minute. He wouldn’t be able to sleep in this state. All he would be doing is waking up Vern when he had to go on a month long trip to the MoI. Maybe it would be best if Ham checked on everyone, just to make sure they all were alright. He had already packed Kai’s essentials in a bag for tomorrow. But maybe he should do a bed check and make sure all their guests were where they were supposed to be. That would kill an hour.

A sudden flash from the window had him jerking away from the blast proof glass that served as a window into the canyon.

Ham began to steady himself when he finally caught sight of the source through a mirror opposite of the window.

The lights were finally here.

The bright Aurora caused by the final traces of the largest geomagnetic storm this base had ever experienced cast delicate light into the canyon. Brightening the outside ground soft colors.

He had just panicked at _lights_ outside the base.

Something he had been expecting all day had nearly sent him into another blind panic.

The gentle blues, greens, and pinks of the Aurore cast an ethereal glow into the canyon. The soft flowing streamers of light that danced between the stars turned the outside world into some kind of fairy playground, like what he used to tell Kai about when they were little. They blanketed the canyon, making the outside as bright as day.

Ham shook him head before he moved to actually look out the window.

The solar storms may have been beautiful but they were also a huge pain in the ass. After the loss in power, major repair jobs, and the muscle headed team he had to deal with this week Ham was done with the wacky electromagnetic fields that had started this insanity.

They had known about the upcoming disturbances. But knowing about them and being prepared for them were two different things. They had expected some communication issues, maybe even drop communication completely and have to fix the satellites because they couldn’t hold up to the electromagnetic waves.

What they hadn’t expected was for the solar flare to be a geomagnetic storm to be so intense they would be able to take out the main power grid and almost all of their backups. They hadn’t expected the ensuing power surge would be able to destroy the first eight levels of the nerve center and the following four would be destroyed by Mass trying to put out the fires. They hadn’t considered that the charging EUnits would be toasted by the last storm of the solar cycle when they had so many safety precautions put in place.

They hadn’t anticipated it; but they had been _mostly prepared_ for it and **lucky**.

They hadn’t had any of their coms systems, tools, or regular weapons plugged in on the off chance the surge protectors were faulty. The traps had been powered by batteries since they had been put in place, with half of them using non electronic pressure plate sensors that wouldn’t fail if an EMP went off. VIC had been shut down for his own safety and no one had been allowed to wear armor or even be above ground until the storm had passed.

But Ham was always happy to be lucky rather than prepared.

VIC’s eyes and ears across the canyon had been shut down just before the storm hit. Mass had accidentally broken VIC’s direct hardline to them while playing with his rock collection hours before. That had saved them from needing to take them all out of the walls and replace them.

Virg had added in too many surge protectors to the lower floors of the nerve center and primary testing facility earlier that week because of an issue with the print out instructions. That mistake had ended up saving T-1, T-3, and the rest of the lower levels in the nerve center. Protecting them from the sudden surge in power that would have forced them to complete gut the entire nerve center and use the parts not destroyed as pieces of scrap.

All of the electronic locks and doors in the canyon had been turned off because Penny had changed the password, after TJ had figured it out. Penny had forgotten the password when he went to write it down. They had decided to leave all the electronic locks off until they could reset the password. Since they couldn’t reset it until they either found the original password or reset it to the original password it hadn’t been much of an inconvenience to keep a closer eye on TJ until they got the the lock sorted out. Besides, Mont had ordered all the important locks to weapons, gear, and ammo to have physical locks to prevent something like a power outage stop him from getting a hold of his shotgun.

Kai, Ricco, Vern, and TJ had been playing and working in the bottom most level when the storm had hit. The three feet thick concrete on all sides and multiple levels above had protected them from any of the potentially dangerous radiation that could have caused harm.

Ham was very thankful they had gotten lucky.

They had lost power for a full nine hours before their back up’s back up’s backup generators had warmed up enough to do more than keep VIC online, if isolated in his cave, and charge Ricco when he needed it. The backup x3 generators had been powerful enough to power what was left undestroyed on the base.

Once they made sure that everyone was alright, they had focused on making sure Tex knew they were still alive when the power had gone out, but nothing more had been done in the way of contacting anyone. The Gulch’s satellites had been obliterated in the storm. Twenty long- and short-range satellites had either been fried so badly that they had stopped working or they had just been blown away. Mont and Vern had needed to whip up something to take the place of their defense and monitoring systems before they could worry about contacting the other SIM bases in range and make sure that they were alright.

Talking to the MoI hadn’t been a priority beyond reassuring their big black clad worrywart that they were all still breathing via her bracelet. They hadn’t even considered sending her comlink a message or updating D.C. for that matter. He hadn’t cared before and if he needed them he had other ways of getting in touch.

They had more pressing matters to attend to.

Doc had needed to monitor Kai, TJ, and Vern just in case there were any negative health impacts caused by the radiation from storm. Mont and Ricco had to try and salvage everything they could from the power grid. The backup x3 generators wouldn’t run forever and could only support a small fraction of the base. The rest of the group had been working on fixing what had been broken.

Hopefully getting everything back to normal before the next big disaster.

Ham had been put on kitchen duty the first five days. Usually he would have enjoyed that job instead of fixing any of the EUnits or the T-1 like he would have usually been stuck with he was in his element. But in this case, it meant he had to get the electronic stove, microwave, refrigerator, and anything else that had been plugged into the living areas working. He had been thankful that having a toddler around meant that everyone put away most hazards instead of leaving them out. Mass lightly burning his hand on the toaster was enough to make everyone careful of kitchen hazards. The blender, mixer, toaster, coffee maker, and any other electronic devices they used in the kitchen had been safe, leaving only the larger devices to be fixed and a couple hundred lightbulbs to be replaced. After that he had been stuck in the motor pool with Penny fixing the vehicles.

It had been a long week.

He was just tired.

Ham smiled bitterly to himself. Even his own mind knew how much of a lie that was. He hadn’t had flashbacks from Icil Ortama in over a year. Now he was jumping at shadows because some chick didn’t know how to properly steal a datapad.

He knew healing took time. But _damn_ that was bad. Even for their group. Nobody had experienced that bad of a PTSD flashback in months. Tex and Virg had come close some bad days but between Kai and Doc they had recovered awesomely in the short period of time.

A fact that, at the moment, only amplified his own failures cope.

To make matters worse Mont and Ricco had been watching. Not to mention VIC had probably recorded the whole thing as leverage if he wasn’t willing to talk to Doc. He would be in for it until Vern and Kai got back from the MoI. When they got back he would then have to deal with their brand of worry until the next big disaster managed to distract them.

Maybe he should have taken Vern up on his offer to watch the spy together. At least then he might have been awake just a little longer to have avoided that spectacle. Even if it had meant he wouldn’t have gotten nearly as much out of Connie if Vern had been there.

Ham let out another sigh at his spiraling thoughts. He was doing that a lot lately.

Finally after standing in the hallway starring out the window for who knows how long he turned around and began to walk back to his room. He knew that as soon as Kai and Vern left tomorrow with Asshole squad he would have to have “a talk” with the others.

Ham knew he had been putting off his own trauma for a while. Most of the others hadn’t pushed. Not when they themselves needed more time. But after he had lost his head today he would have started to consider telling anyone his experiences anyway.

It could have been Kai trying to wake him instead of Connie.

Ham wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he had hurt Kai. After the incident tonight he found himself willing to talk to Doc about his problems. Regardless of how annoying he could be. Even Price would be an option at this point. The creep might be David Ayer to project freelancer’s suicide squad. But at least Ham didn’t have to worry about Price dancing on eggshells trying to be careful with him. Or spilling his secrets to his baby sister.

But then again, he could say the same thing for Mont.

Mont would listen but unless he thought Ham would really blow a gasket, he would leave Ham be. It was one of the few things about the man Ham respected. Even if it was just because “if Ham was out of commission then we would down a man and the Blues would have the advantage” or whatever he had said to Vern and Penny the last time.

With Kai not being there for a month it might be the best chance he could get to tell the others without exposing his baby sister to it all. He didn’t want Kai to know about the colony, even if it hadn’t been decimated the way it had.

He had never wanted to tell her about the asshole of a commander he had been given. How the man had caught word of an attack and had promptly gathered his five favorite kiss ups and their call girls and abandoned a colony instead of trying to evacuate civilians.

That being one of dozens of dick moves the so called “honorable commander” had made during the three months Grif had been stationed at Icil Ortama.

He hadn’t wanted to tell her about how how badly the small mining colony had lost against the attack. How they had been so outmatched that only a few had died during the original attack because they had been forced to surrender only an hour into the siege.

He never wanted to admit what the four percent of the colony had in common with the only _real_ surviving member of the outpost.

What he and those... those _kids_ had been forced to witness during...

A sharp shock from his bracelet stopped Ham’s dark thoughts before he could take the path that would lead him to the nerve center so he could report to Mont and Ricco.

The electricity forced his entire hand to contract painfully. Nearly forcing him to cry out as he stumbled into the wall.

Ham looked at the practically glowing red, brown, and maroon beads on the offending bracelet. Of course, Mont was awake. Whatever he wanted must be important. Doc had limited the number of shocks the bracelet could deliver to twelve a week. After Mont had used it on him every hour for three days straight, Doc had threatened to remove the ability completely. Now Mont mostly used it as a wake up call if Ham was late. Ham inspected the bracelet as a message began to appear on the thin clasp near his inner wrist.

_There is a lot more of **that** waiting for you if you go anywhere but your room. If your still up in an hour, you’ll be getting real personal with my shotgun._

Ham held in a scoff, knowing full well that Mont was watching. Well, that saved him a trip he supposed. It sounded like Mont was up to date on what had just happened. He would send an update to Kai and Vern before they left.

Ham turned towards his own room. He was currently bunking with Simmons-Vern for the night. Maybe he would share what had happened with Dexter Grif with his old SIM partner before they both fell asleep via Mont pumping their shared bunk with sleeping gas.

No matter what Ham did, he just had to be prepared for whatever Freelancer threw at them next.

D.C. and Price had given away a secret they had kept for over five years, since Mont and Ricco had first arrived at the gulch they had been a secret to Freelancer as a whole. SIM bases thought they were command or some other UNSC department when they contacted them, operatives on the MoI had thought they were your average run of the mill SIM base. Now they decided they needed to reveal everything because they were worried about Bravo? Unlikely.

Things were changing, plans were being put in motion.

_The first Pawn was being moved as white made their opening move._

Ham finally made it to his room. He could still see the maroon bead glowing brightly. Vern was still awake behind the door, waiting for him.

When that happened Dexter Grif would be ready for it. And he would do his damn best to make sure his sister and friends were ready too. Whatever the universe could throw at them they would face it. Weather they wanted to or not they were in this for the long haul.

With a final sigh Ham glanced as the other beads on his bracelet, all but three still asleep, before opening the door. The lights were still on and Vern was on the bunk Ham had pulled down across from his own bed. He had made the bed when Vern had announced that he would stay with Ham because “there was no way they could let a guest stay in Ham’s room without accidentally killing them from the stench alone.” Vern gave Ham an annoyed look, as if Ham was the one keeping him awake. The same look Dick Simmons would give Dexter Grif when he snuck back into their shared bunk after a midnight pantry raid.

There was a game starting and Dexter Grif planned to win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be an interlude. Something short and sweet to get me back in the swing of things. But NO I ended up adding in CT's point of view and a lot more background than I planned!!! 
> 
> If I'm being honest I was expecting to get a lot of messages on Tex vs Bravo telling me that I nerfed her too much or that I gave Bravo too much of an advantage against her. Or even that I messed up the Director or Counselor in it. The responses I got was so positive I figured that either I was doing something right or no one thought to correct me to spare my feelings. Thank you all for reading I think the last update was my most successful chapter with at least 336 hits. Thank you all!!!!!!
> 
> Remember writers are a lot like trolls. We feed off of any kind of response so please review or kudos or even just share funny emojis to tell me what you think.
> 
> Please be safe and well as school starts back up. I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as I can. I'm hoping maybe 2-3 more left until the next story so please bear with me just a little bit longer.
> 
> Thank you so much for your interest,  
> ~~Love Spazz.


	16. The Coming Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Montana is the first one awake that morning. He has a big decision to make before Alpha leaves for the Mother of Invention. His choice will greatly impact not only his team but Project Freelancer as a whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's been a while. I hope you are all well and that this chapter is worth the wait. yes this chapter has the same title of an episode of RWBY but I think it fit. Besides it was either this or "Morning Routine" and I didn't want to get people's hopes up for another fight sequence.
> 
> I hope you enjoy 9569 words of Sarge being a good dad and grandpa while also being a soldier.  
> Please enjoy!!!!

......

Trigger warnings. I will be discussing Sarge’s take on Junior’s conception and some of the things that came with it. I will put a border around it if you would like to avoid it. I will not be discussing the A word nor will I mention the R word. I will be discussing how Sarge changes his opinions on Aliens from watching Tucker interact with his son and how Tucker overcame his problems and loves his son. If the themes bother you, please skip it. I care more about your mental health and wellness than this story. This is just Sarge’s point of view into everything. Most of what has happened has been touched on so please don’t feel like you have to read it.

START CHAPTER

Mont was the first one awake that morning. Not that he wasn’t the first one awake every morning. Even when he was the last one to bed, he was the first one up. It was a habit he had developed early in his career when he needed a few minutes to himself before he had to interact with his fellow officers. Even in the cold vacuums of space where the shifts and Lopez determined the time, he had always been the first one up. It had been a handy habit as an ODST Sargent when he needed to be up before the rest of his team. It had given him some peace of mind when he could do a bed check and look in on the injured before they had to be up.

He had enjoyed it for the most part. The hour before any of his men were up was the most peaceful moments he had. Sure, he was a warrior born and bread for battle. A soldier that lived for combat and would rather die in the heat of battle then be stuck behind a desk when he got too old to fight. The old soldier was at home in the thick of battle.

But being here just before twilight when the world was still quiet, knowing that everyone was safe in the base, that was a good feeling. Even with danger on the horizon it felt peaceful. Doing a quick bed check always helped his nerves when his memories started catching up with him. There was always some threat on the horizon waiting to cause problems.

That only made moments like these more precious.

Especially with what had happened yesterday.

Thunder sounded as if summoned by Mont’s darkening thoughts. The sudden rumbling was loud enough to halt Mont during his morning bed check of Red Base. He paused at a window a yard from Ham’s room.

The skies had been clear most of the night, allowing the lights to paint the canyon soft and bright colors like something from a fantastical dream. But like all things, good or bad, they didn’t last. Clear skies had started to dim and darken as the night continued on. They had expecting some rain to come with it. That had been the primary reason Cali and Vern wouldn’t be leaving till later in the morning. The ship would ice over if it had to escape atmosphere soaking wet. But they hadn’t expected thunder.

Once Mont had made sure that it was just Mother Nature knocking, not enemy fire making the racket he continued on.

A quick check of Ham and Vern in the room. Both were still in their own beds facing each other even while passed out from the, now vented, knockout gas. Mont paused for a moment to take in the somehow pristine Murphy bed that Vern slept in and the complete mess that Ham used. The two boys had been up late and had needed the extra push to actually sleep.

Ham had given Vern a complete rundown of his interrogation of Connie. He had listed his suspicions, their evidence, and his proposal for what Vern should do about her once he and Cali got to the ship. Doing his best to argue his point even when Vern had stopped arguing and said that he would wait for Mont’s decision before he made his move.

Mont didn’t kid himself while he listened to his boys talk late into the night. Ham knew he was watching and listening to the entire conversation and had done his best to convince _Montana_ that he should let Connecticut reveal her intentions and allegiance before they made their move. Ham didn’t trust the project, and Mont suspected he had a good reason to. Which was why he was so convinced that they needed more information before they could continue.

Both boys had fallen asleep in the middle of their conversation when Mont had deemed it too late for them to be up.

With one more look at their sleeping forms Mont asked VIC to delay Ham and Vern’s wake up call by half an hour before he closed the door and continued down the hallway. They had been up late and would need the sleep.

Just this once he would let Ham slack off.

He moved to check his own room next. Mont had moved into Lopez’s room for the night. Lopez, or Rico as the others called him, had taken over the night shift for Ham and had spent most of the night going back and forth between VIC’s terminal in the caves and the monitor room. Lopez hadn’t found any issues with VIC’s hard or software but he had gone ahead and reinforced both anyway.

The familiar cot and blankets were more than enough for Mont while Lopez was working. Mont was more than at home in the room. It had originally been the room Mont had spent the night in before Mass had arrived. Mont had spent most of the time building Lopez his Puerto Rico body that it had felt right to give him the room when they had expanded the base for the others. The room was big enough for all the tools and gear Lopez needed to keep himself running properly and any amenities he might want to use in his spare time.

Mont made it to his room and softly opened the door. He saw North Dakota sleeping flat on the bunk that usually folded into the ceiling. He was stiff sleeping on his back with his hands at his side. Washington, his newest recruit, was on Mont’s bed, laying sprawled across the cot on his stomach like Ham liked to do. His arms and legs starfished out and his blankets had fallen off of his body. If it had been Cali, Tex, Mass or even Vern with their blanket thrown off of, Mont might have walked into the room and pulled the blanket up. But he wouldn’t risk waking Washington or North Dakota right now. They would both be in for a long month. Washington would be in for a wild ride with Bravo while North Dakota and the rest of Freelancer would have their hands full with Cali while she was on the MoI.

They both deserved one night of restful sleep.

Mont checked Penny’s room quickly. He and Doc were up but they would still be their room for another hour or two. They might even miss Cali and Vern leaving if they decided to have breakfast in bed together. They had volunteered to take over Cali and Vern’s shifts until they could get Tex and their new recruit adjusted. They wouldn’t need to do much more work than before but they still wanted some post-date alone time before they started the day.

Mont paused at Verns room to check on South Dakota and Connecticut before moving onto Blue Base. VIC’s sensors had detected that the members of Alpha squad were still asleep. He had checked their spare room first to check on Carolina and 479er before he had moved onto the others. All female members of Alpha were sound asleep and hadn’t stirred when the door cracked open.

Connie hadn’t moved from the room since Ham had escorted her back.

The sight of the dark haired woman had brought Mont’s thoughts back to the problem at hand.

What choice should he make about their mole? Should he have Vern and Cali inform the Counselor when they arrived? Should he confront her about his suspensions and see if she talked? Should he let it be and hope for the best?

Mont let out a sigh. He closed the door and began to make his way it to Blue base.

This problem was more complicated than it should be.

The proper thing to do would be to inform his superiors of his suspicions and hold the suspect until a higher up gave him orders to release her or shoot her. If it was some random soldier in freelancer, he would do exactly that. There was no reason for top secret information to be given to someone it didn’t belong with. Especially with the spies they had that wanted to take guns that hadn’t passed safety inspections. They could end up killing more people that saving them when some idiot decided to stick their nose into a secret they had no right to be looking at.

If Connie was a spy for D.C. then Mont would just give her some scraped information that would keep the Director’s panties from twisting up and then inform the Counselor of their newest mole and have him deal with it. It had worked in the past. The Counselor hadn’t taken kindly to the Director sending in spies when he already limited any interactions between Bravo and the rest of freelancer. Mont had been present during the first argument and had heard enough to know that those moles were more or less harmless. They would get a slap on the wrist, relocated somewhere else, and Bravo would be able to continue on with no interruptions.

If this problem happened with his own men he would have spoken to them privately and tried to figure out why they were doing it. Mont would work with them to try and find a solution that didn’t lead to treason or death. He trusted his men and they trusted him. Even Ham for all his useless bellyaching and the good for nothing blues knew that they could come to him if they needed to talk. They could trust him to be on their side if they were in a position they felt the need to be a spy. He knew his men well enough to know that they would have a good reason for divulging information. After all a soldier doesn’t betray his men. He goes down with them.

But Connie was different.

She wasn’t one of his men, so he should just report her to the Counselor and be done with it.

He should, but one of his men had tried to vouch for her; or at least give her the benefit of doubt. Ham had been pretty adamant about letting her reveal more of her secrets before they blew the whistle on her. Ham, for all the trouble he liked to cause, had a feeling that she was doing something that she felt was right. That she had a strong sense of what she was doing was the right thing no matter what anyone said. That was a powerful conviction to have. With how she was talking to Ham last night Mont felt compelled to agree with Ham’s gut. As much as it pained Mont to admit it.

But how did Mont find out what Connie thought was so worth while that she was willing to risk her life so that she could send information outside of the project?

If someone tried to talk to her directly there was a good chance that she would clam up and cover her tracks. He couldn’t help her if she didn’t talk to him. Not to mention that if she was a spy for someone dangerous she might do something stupid if she thought that they were onto her. But if Ham was right and she really was doing the right thing then he couldn’t just throw her to the wolves. The only thing Ham had proven last night was that she wasn’t working with D.C. If they gave her up without checking who she really was working for they might be making a big mistake. If she was spying for the UNSC and trying to rein in some of the project’s more _lethal_ habits with the SIM bases it might even be a costly mistake.

Mont let out another sigh. He had made it to Blue Base and his conclusion with Agent Connecticut.

He would let her be, _for now_. Mont would have Vern and Cali keep an eye on her. Try and figure out who she was working for, and why, if they could manage it. The Director was a sly and crafty asshole. The Counselor, for all his talk of trying to help them was even more so. If Connie stepped out of line then they could reveal her at any point in time. If she put anyone at risk they could easily uncover her treachery. Or even have VIC reveal her if things got really bad. They could afford to wait for more information before they proceeded.

What mattered now was that Cali and Vern knew the mole and of his choices regarding her before they left. The next step would be to make sure Washington and Tex knew before they sent them back to the MoI. Let them know about her but try and discover the reason why before they started accusing her.

A bright flash of light followed by a rumble of thunder seemed to agree with the sentiment.

Mont found himself breathing a sigh of relief that Ham was currently drugged up to his gills with knockout gas right now. He had been having some really bad flashbacks the last day or so and Mont was glad he would sleep through the thunderstorm. There was no telling how Ham would react to the storm that would be on them soon.

Pushing all thoughts of the exhausted orange out of his mind Mont moved to complete his rounds in Blue Base.

Mont checked Mass’s room first. Inside was York and Maine. York was flat on his back with his arms tucked under his head. Maine was on his side with his back facing York. Both were sound asleep. The towering form of Maine had only just managed to fit in Mass’s bed. He and York had to switch rooms with 479er and Carolina when that had been discovered. They would have to refit some of the beds if Alpha and other members of Freelancer would be visiting more often. Mass could only properly fit in two beds on the base, his own and the spare one in Virg’s room. If Freelancer agents were all pushing six feet tall then they would need more long beds if they were going to keep them.

Mont checked on Florida and Wyoming next. They had taken Doc’s room and had opted to move the beds together and sleep like that. They were both at least shirtless but also covered by the blanket enough that Mont couldn’t tell if they were _just_ shirtless. Mont made a note to have someone wash the sheets just in case. He had overheard Virg and Vern make a bet on whether or not the two were _involved_. He might know that dirty blues were unreliable; but he would prefer to not take any chances if Virg was right. Mont soundlessly closed the door.

With Alpha squad and the Reds all checked on Mont moved to check on the rest of his team.

Cali and Tex were in their shared room. Both were still soundly asleep, tucked into their bunks. Cali had been placed into the top bunk by Tex who had taken the bunk below her. Their rookie could be as big of a mother hen as Virg at times. She had probably collapsed in her bed as soon as she made sure that Cali wasn’t going to roll off her bunk. Neither stirred when the door opened fully. Mont didn’t blame them for being out cold. It had been a long day for everyone.

The girls especially.

Cali has been running on two or three hours of sleep a day for the last two weeks. Her surgeries had more complications than anyone had expected. The frustration she had experienced because of said complications had led to many restless nights. All of Bravo had tried to help but It was difficult when none of them had gone through something as difficult as she had. One minute she was fine the next she was tears and the next she was laughing like a maniac and then she was crying again. It had been a long road towards recovery.

Mont had spent over thirty years as a soldier. He had seen soldiers and civilians alike lost to their emotions. He had seen fellow troopers deep in shock and pain, hysterical from fear, nearly unresponsive in grief, wild with anger, and even a bit crazed from loneness.

But none of his time or training had prepared him for dealing with someone so young outside of battle.

Mont would never admit it but he was thankful that Ham was there to help him and the others deal with it all. Ham seemed to have some sixth sense that could detect when Cali was about to have another emotional episode. Even when Cali began to fully adjust and those episodes got few and far between, the others had still been hesitant to approach, afraid of somehow making things worse.

They had gotten a bit better when Cali had all but announced that they wouldn’t have been able to handle having any girls, kids, or normal people around if they walked on eggshells when someone was in a sour mood. Most of them had gotten a bit better after that. They helped her through her moods, stopping them before they could become episodes. Even Tex who had little contact with them on a good day had started to pick up social cues the others gave off and react to it. It filled Mont’s old bones with pride to see her grow that much from a few interactions and instructions.

They were getting better with each other, learning quickly and bonding easily. They were growing as a team, and in Mont’s softest moments, he would admit they were growing into a family.

But nobody had been prepared for Blood Gulch’s sun to practically launch a planet sized emp blast their way when the geomagnetic storm hit.

Everyone had been alright when that first hit had happened. Nobody had been injured and the worst things that they had to fix had been the power grid and upper floors of the nerve center that had been destroyed or caught fire from the sudden increase in power from the storm. Cali had started out fine when they had started clean up without her, but she had gotten worse and worse with every order not to help. Nobody had wanted her to prolong her recovery on the chance that she might injure herself helping; but without any way to distract her it had been a challenge. A challenge only escalated when she started running through some of Mont’s old ODST tactical planning scenarios to keep herself busy.

It was also hard because everyone was worried about what they might be missing with communications out. Sure they could signal Tex that they were alive and unharmed and she could do the same but that was the limit, there wasn’t much else they could do with everything grounded. It was almost a relief when Cali had lost her cool and started arguing with them. Everyone had been trying to hold all of their concerns and worries in and having Cali flush it all out of her system had helped not only her but everyone voice their concerns out loud.

They had finally managed to get everything back to normal yesterday. They had fixed the primary grid, VIC’s surveillance systems, and reset the locks in the bases. Their backups would need a few more days work to finish repairs, but communications, electricity, and security would finally be up and running after a week of hard work. Everyone had been relieved even if VIC wouldn’t be able to fully return to their systems until later in the day they were close to being done with the problems Mother Nature had sent their way.

Then they had gotten an alert from VIC not a minute after he had reconnected to his sensors outside the canyon. VIC had detected an unmarked pelican about five clicks out from the canyon’s rim. That wasn’t necessary a bad sign, it might have just been a freelancer transport sent to check in on them since things went dark. They might have still been on their way or stuck in one of the outer canyon traps.

Mont hadn’t wanted to take any chances when they were still vulnerable.

When they got that announcement Mont had ordered Doc and TJ into the panic room on the off chance that they were under attack. They would be safe from any detection and wouldn’t leave until they got an all clear sign from VIC and another member of Bravo. Then Mont had grabbed Mass to help him to a quick sweep of the canyon. They wouldn’t investigate the ship until they made sure that everything was set in case of an attack. That meant acting normal while they waited for VIC to fully reintegrate into the canyon systems and Ham and Penny to finish fixing a warthog.

When Mont and Vern had been confronted by a woman in standard Freelancer agent armor he had been annoyed maybe even a little amused. It was obvious that D.C. had jumped the gun and ordered a squad to investigate instead of trying to contact them with any other half a dozen ways they had given him.

Mont had been annoyed at how badly the woman was at taking hostages and interrogating people. You would think any recovery team they sent would have to be at least somewhat skilled at questioning people. But no all this woman did was wave a gun around and fire vague questions at them like a machine gun. She didn’t give them enough time to process her questions, much less answer them.

Mont had tried to get her to calm down enough to actually ask an understandable question that he could answer. She had been in such an agitated state that she hadn’t listened when Mont had said that he was the one in charge. He hadn’t put down his tools when she had demanded it. They still had a live armorlock unit on the table and they couldn’t afford to ignore it with everyone on planet wearing armor. But Mont had only made her angrier when he had refused to answer her demands.

Mont knew when to acknowledge that he made a mistake. Or at least he could admit it to himself. He probably should have introduced himself before he tried to calm South Dakota down. She was obviously worried about someone, her brother, if Lopez’s account lined up correctly. But he hadn’t tried to talk her down, no he had almost gotten into a pissing match with her because she was threatening Vern.

Mont had tried to stop Vern from dropping the soldering iron. The thing was still powered on and could easily melt a hole in the floor, not to mention someone’s foot, in a matter of seconds. Mont watched the tool fall to the ground with a clatter before the light went off. Mont had let out an inaudible sigh of relief when the iron began powering down. It would take a few minutes to cool and they would have to replace the tile but so long as nobody touched it they would be fine.

Then the good for nothing dirty blue had started talking. He had only made the whole thing worse in his attempt to “help.” His nickname apparently belittled the woman and only made her more tense. His antagonizing was quickly followed by an attack on Vern who had tried to move the AL out of the line of fire and reiterating the vague questions from before.

Mont has watched the dirty blue glance at the soldering iron laying on the ground. The tile had started to heat up beneath it as it transferred heat. Unnoticeable to anyone who hadn’t seen it before. He could have said something about it, but he hadn’t wanted to risk startling someone into a fire fight with the AL unit still in the line of fire.

He hadn’t thought anyone would be stupid enough to grab a soldering iron by anything qother than the handle. Vern had the right instinct to warn the blue moron before he tried. Mont was only a _little_ satisfied when he was proven wrong and the Blue moron had ignored Vern to grab the iron.

Unfortunately, South Dakota had jerked the trigger when the man had cried out and tried to release the iron. Mont had enough time to grab Vern and yank him out of the way as he tried to grab the AL unit again.

All four of them were frozen solid between one heartbeat and the next. The rest of the canyon would follow as the signal spread outward. The signal would have spread across the entire planet within the hour.

Mont was stuck looking at the broken AL unit. Vern’s body was facing the other two but his head was angled the same way. Neither had visuals on the other two and their speakers had been fried from the AL unit overloading. They were stuck with no way to contact anybody farther than six feet away through their heavy armor.

Mont was relieved to hear Cali’s voice over the intercom a few minutes later. She managed to fill the entire canyon in on what had happened and announce that she would bring them all together and fix the AL unit.

Mont and Vern might have been stuck with fried speakers, but their HUD’s were still functioning. In the time it took Cali to rescue the others and come to the workshop Mont had managed to pull up the recorded image of the AL unit right before it was destroyed. This allowed him and Vern watch in slow motion as the bullet missed Vern’s hand by centimeters and nailed the AL unit in the firing mechanism. This allowed them to piece together how Cali could fix the AL unit and release them. Once she had found them and managed to get them all down to the T-3 with the tools and AL unit they had done their best to guide her through the repair work.

Even if she still didn’t know a two hundred fifty Ohm resistor from a five hundred twenty Ohm resistor.

The following few hours had been tenuous at best and downright anal at worst. Dealing with D.C. always was. And his prized team appeared to follow that trend. Even getting a chance to make sure Tex was taking care of herself hadn’t lightened the mood like it usually did for the old soldier. Something in his gut told him that the danger hadn’t passed yet.

Something was wrong, he just hadn’t known _what_.

Mont hadn’t been surprised to find out that someone on Alpha squad had tried to hack VIC. They had attempts before. He _was_ surprised that they had actually managed to make a dent into VIC’s firewalls but not surprised by the act of espionage. It had been D.C.s favorite way to mess with Bravo since Mont and Lopez had arrived five years ago. But none of his not his methods had actually succeeded.

That was a cause for concern.

Breaking the news to Tex had been hard. Mont knew she was still having trust issues with Alpha squad. Their rocky start and her subsequent pariah status had made her interactions with anyone of the ship downright difficult. The potential of a mole being among the group of people she respected was a blow to her. Mont was happy he had waited for her to be surrounded by the others before he informed her.

The others had comforted and reassured Tex of her place among them, better than Mont ever could alone. The few short words had helped her steady her mind and heart enough that she was able to offer insight on her teammates while he others gave their reports and observations.

Ham had been the only person to voice the option that they should let any mole reveal more. He had noticed that this traitor had more subtlety than any of the other spies they had encountered. Especially when no one could tell for sure who their spy might be.

Well, no one but **Ham**.

But Ham had already been punished for that. Having to put in the actual effort of fighting Tex in an actual match would be enough of a punishment for the man’s actions yesterday. Even if she hadn’t given him as good of an ass whooping as he had deserved.

Mont had suspected that Ham staying up to confront Connie meant that he knew that she was the spy. Usually if Ham wanted to do his own investigation Mont would let him be. He wasn’t one to put his nose into other people’s business. Ham would tell him what he found in the morning if it was anything noteworthy.

But this time Mont didn’t.

Mont had maybe been a teeny tiny microscopically little bit _worried_ about Ham being left alone with a potential traitor. So, to make up for Ham’s known ineptitude Mont had decided to pull up the security feed of Ham in position in front of the nerve center. The feed turned on in time for Mont to see Ham laying down in front of Connie. The agent was obviously trying to take the datapad on Ham’s stomach.

The next hour of Mont’s _supervising_ filled him with a new found respect for the young man. A respect he wouldn’t admit to under the threat of death.

Mont watched Ham react like a soldier that had finally returned home after a bad campaign. He grabbed the woman’s wrist and moved to pull her into a head but. He jerked awake seconds later with a wildness to him Mont hadn’t thought Ham capable of. Mont then watched as Ham seemed to reboot in a matter of seconds and gather his wits enough to actually have a conversation with Connie.

Then Mont watched Ham start to interrogate her.

It was the first time Mont actually watched Ham interrogate a person. Usually Mont thought interrogation was a cowards way to do things. There was nothing honorable or even decent about beating a defenseless person to get answers. No matter what the information might be. It was something he had always been against, even when the Counselor had stated that Ham and Cali were both gifted in it.

Mont had done his best to make sure that those two had better skills to rely on over their two years with Bravo. He had seen how badly it had affected an old friend when they had been forced to interrogate a madman. That entire debacle had shaken his old friend, they had gotten the information but had gotten more than they had bargained for. Learned more than they should have ever had to know. Mont hadn’t wanted either child to go through that. He hadn’t wanted them to have to deal with having that on their consciousness.

But what Ham did wasn’t anything Mont had seen before. He was arguing with Connie, like he would do with Vern or any other member of Beta. He was arguing, _talking to her_ , but he was getting information out of her. Useful information even. Connie didn’t even appear to realize that she was letting things slip.

Mont had watched Ham interrogate the agent for nearly an hour before he began to lead Connie back to her room. Mont watched as he made sure she was back in her room. He was planning to let Ham meet with him and listen any insight that he might have missed. Mont was willing to seriously hear Ham’s plans one more time before he made any big decisions.

Then he had watched Hampshire have another start with the first glimpse of light in the sky.

After Ham managed to properly stand once more Mont knew that he had to put all his plans on hold. He had seen those signs too often in his forty something odd years to ignore them in his own men now.

Ham was on edge enough that he was jumping at shadows. The normally calm idiot with a complete apathy for hard work shouldn’t be that bothered by the previous events. Ham typically wasn’t bothered by anything. But had had two jumps in as many hours. Mont knew the boy needed sleep. So Mont had practically ordered him to his room to rest. He had sent a firm shock to make sure that he was understood.

The idiot still had to be _convinced_ to go to sleep though.

Mont was pulled out of his musings by a soft sigh coming from the girl’s bedroom.

Mont watched as Tex rolled over in her bed, hugging the stuffed mockingbird tightly to her chest. Her face a picture of tranquility. She had gotten the toy from Virg last month as a gift to congratulate her first anniversary of joining Freelancer. She had complained about it enough that Virg had nearly thrown it out, he probably would have if she hadn’t fallen asleep on the couch with the stuffed birds still clutched tightly in her arms. She had refused to let go of the thing.

Tex herself was probably still recovering from a bad night as well. Or even a string of them. She never slept well on the Mother of Invention. It was something she tried to hide from her team. But his eyes could still tell when one of his own wasn’t sleeping enough. She had probably been up late last night trying to come to terms with Bravo disappearing. She had been having nightmares about them more frequently in the last few months. Her transmissions to the gulch had almost matched their numerous transmissions to her in length and number.

It was a lot of transmissions considering that Bravo members usually sent her transmission separately.

Mont could tell that the frequent communication had helped her through the bad nights. But he still worried it wouldn’t be enough. Especially with how badly Alpha seemed to be in person. Tex had thrived when she was among friends and allies. She learned better when she had a teacher to guide her, she spoke more when she was interacting with acquaintances, she smiled and laughed more around friends.

But Alpha didn’t seem to be any of those. Mont had seen Tex interact more comfortably with enemies in the middle of missions, while said enemies were shooting at her. But when she was with Alpha she claimed up and started to shut down. Reminding Mont of what she had first been like when Bravo had met her.

Why exactly did this so called team make her so miserable?

Maybe he could convince the Counselor to give them custody of Tex for longer than a few days now that the rest of Freelancer knew about them. Tex was starting to go back into her shell and they had to stop it before she got stuck again.

Mont took another long look at the girls safely tucked into their beds before he gently closed the door. A vague green light sparking just as the door closed. The heavy door firmly locked behind him. They would be safe until morning.

He still had one last room to check after all.

Mont finished his rounds the same way he had the last two and a half years, at Virg’s room. The large room currently held the exhausted parent and giant uncle sound asleep in their beds. Mass would be dead to the world until the alarm went off and Virg would be asleep until Mass woke him up. Preferably with an iced bucket of water.

Both were sleeping soundly. Mass on his stomach with his blanket pulled up to his shoulders, his dark curls falling to his shoulders. He would need a haircut soon. Virg was on his back with his arms draped over his eyes. His hair was every such way across his pillow, still braided with blue and green beads from last week. Virg’s light snores filled the room as Mass rolled over.

Mont was about to close the door when a soft sound hiccuped over the snores of the adults.

At that sound Mont opened the door fully and stepped into the room. Being careful to avoid anything on the floor that might make a noise Mont began moving towards a cracked opened door.

The door could have passed for a closet door, it was unremarkable, nearly fading into the wall, and narrow enough that Mont had to pause and reposition himself before entering.

When the door opened fully it revealed a modest sized room illuminated by a nightlight that cast stars and moons onto the walls. There weren’t any windows but pictures hung from the walls made the room seem less claustrophobic.

There in an aqua and blue crib was TJ. The baby was trying to toss his stuffed gun out of his crib, letting out soft grunts when the gun almost made it over the side only to fall back down into the crib.

Mont watched as the little guy turn to him and let out a cry of excitement. Mont raised a hand to his lips before TJ could get much louder. The toddler looked at Mont with understanding before he rolled over to stand up in his crib. TJ lifted his arms when Mont got to the edge of the crib. With one, practiced fluid motion TJ was out of the crib and firmly fixed to Mont’s hip.

Mont paused at the door to look directly at TJ. The toddler looked at him with wide green eyes. They looked at each other for three seconds before TJ moved one finger to his mouth and made a shush sound. Reminding Mont that they had to be quiet.

Mont smiled at the toddler and crept out of the room as softly as he could. Neither Virg nor Mass moved to stop them.

**~~~This It The Border Proceed With Caution Please ~~~**

If someone had told him five years ago that he would be taking care of a pint sized alien toddler parsecs away from the battlefield, he probably would have shot them for even joking about him committing such a dishonorable act of treason.

But now, nearly three years after TJ was born, Mont couldn’t imagine what life would have been like if they hadn’t found his father when they did. Virg was a good kid, he didn’t know how to parent but he was trying. He had been dealt a bad hand. But he had sucked it up and moved past it like a champ.

Mont wouldn’t have blamed Virg if he had succumbed under the weight of everything during his first few months with Bravo. Mont had seen good people crumble away from the loss of a single teammate. Having your entire team killed would have hurt the best people. The lost of his squad had only been the tip of the iceberg with Virg. His experiences while a prisoner of war were terrible, the after affects even more so.

But Virg had powered through. He hadn’t held hatred in his heart when he had been freed. He had just wanted to put the whole thing behind him. Let the dead stay buried and face their sins the way all dead people did. He had taken his memories of the past and separated them from his future.

Virg had looked at the new life that he had created and smiled.

Introducing Virg to his son had been a life changing experience for the old soldier.

He had avoided TJ like the plague when he was born. The innocent child’s form had reminded him too much of the monsters he had faced on the battle field. The anger and hatred he always felt. He could hear the screams and smell the gunpowder. He had lost too many friends and comrades in the war against his people. He hadn’t been able to stomach the betrayal they must have felt when he left the newborn in Doc’s capable hands.

He hadn’t wanted to hurt the young man either. Virg hadn’t asked for what had happened. He didn’t spdeserve to have an old soldier come in and make life changing decisions for him. Virg hadn’t made the choice of going on that mission, his squad had been assigned and he was stuck going along for the ride. He hadn’t decided to get caught up in all the alien crap. Virg deserved to make his own decisions regarding everything that had happened. He had deserved to look at the being that had come out of him and make his own call.

Seeing a young face hold a new life for the first time had always been a special moment. Mont had firmly believed it even if he had never been the parent in that situation. He hadn’t wanted that moment ruined by his disapproval.

But Penny and Doc had dragged him in anyway. Everyone had been gathered in the infirmary. Cali and Ham had been talking with Virg on his options. The two had claimed that they had experience with situations similar to what Virg had gone through. Mont hadn’t had the mindset to actually ask what that meant at the time. The two had worked together to keep the private calm when he had woken up. They had answered any questions he had while being careful with how they responded.

They had comed him and Doc the moment he asked about the infant.

Mont was there when the small bundle was placed into the privates shaking hands. He had watched as the kid, he couldn’t have been much older that twenty-three, started to tear up at the sight of a new life. Watched as Penny and Cali helped him hold his son for the first time. He listened as the private named his son and held him close. As if he could prevent anything from hurting him by just holding him tightly.

Mont hadn’t had the heart to leave the room. Watching as the private held onto his son like a lifeline was something he didn’t have a right to do. But he hadn’t had the right to interrupt it by leaving.

The last thing the private needed was someone even hinting that they doubted his choices. He was in a fragile state. He had lost his entire team, been a prisoner of war, and had just given birth. He had just made his own decision for the first time in what had to be months. He had made a choice to be a single parent.

Mont had no right to voice his opinion of anything. Especially when he wasn’t sure what his own opinion was.

Watching his men take care of the newborn had reminded Mont that wars had innocents on both sides. Seeing the private hold his son had reminded him that children shouldn’t bear their fathers sins. Even with the names and faces of the people Mont had lost flashing in his mind, he couldn’t bring himself to blame the kid for what others had done. Mont had needed some time to sort through everything.

But he couldn’t leave the room.

If a superior left the room it might signal to the private that he had made “the wrong” choice. It might make him worry that he would be in trouble or punished. It might make him question his own decisions or even his own capabilities. Mont couldn’t do it to the kid after everything that had happened to him.

So Mont stayed in the room as the private talked with his rescuers. He listened as Penny, Cali, Doc, and even Ham offered advice. He had watched as Mass asked to hold the infant and Vern helped position the swaddled bundle properly.

He had remained quiet when the others began taking their turns holding the child. He had watched as each member of his team showed their support for the new parent. Something akin to pride in his throat as he saw just how kind his kids could be.

He hadn’t known how to react when Penny pulled him onto a seat and Doc placed the squirming bundle into his arms. He had frozen when the bundle’s eyes cracked open. Tired blue eyes had looked at him and a small clawless hand had shifted out of the swaddle to brush against Mont’s arm.

He hadn’t heard the voices of his old comrades calling him a traitor. He didn’t see the faces of his teammates who had been killed by Covenant forces. He didn’t feel the forty years worth of wounds, injuries, and heartache caused by enemy forces.

He just hearted the soft breath of an exhausted parent. The gentle presence of his team around him. The steady beat of a heart.

The one voice he did hear was the voice of his sister from long ago. Reminding him that every child deserves a chance.

**~~~~~End Of The Thing~~~~~**

TJ let out a cheer when the door closed behind him.

“Atta-boy good job.” Mont cheered. Bouncing the toddler as he made his way down to the nexus.

The nexus was the building in the center of the canyon. Its subterranean passageways led to every part of the base, making it a good place for common areas and meeting point for both teams. The kitchen and dining room were a floor below the com room and the recreation room a floor below that.

On the outside nexus looked like a large rock jutting out from the ground. Some carefully crafted camouflage and chameleon tech made sure that there was nothing remarkable about it.

The top floor served as a living room when there wasn’t a mission and a communications room when there was. It was the only room in the nexus that had a mission-oriented purpose.

Not that it could be told from looking at it.

The room itself was decorated with large couches and comfortable chairs, a large screen with a few gaming consoles was on one wall. The floor was carpeted and the walls were some cheerful color that Penny had picked out. A playpen and a chest of toys were shoved into another corner. There was a microwave and coffee maker in a corner as well as a mini fridge placed against a wall. Mont still wasn’t sure how Ham had managed to get that past him. But on days like this, when he really needed a cup of coffee, he wasn’t as angry about it. Only a few private terminals in the corners to allow for private messages were the indication that the room had any strategic purpose.

The com room was also one of the few, non hallway, rooms in the canyon with windows. The three inch thick bulletproof glass in the room provided a view into the dark landscape. During the day it lit up the room. But now, what had been bright as day a few hours ago was pitch black with a few distant flashes lighting up the forks on.

The storm would be on them within the hour.

Mont turned on the lights for a few second before hitting the dimmer. He was careful not to curse when he was blinded. No one would let him live it down if the first English word TJ spoke was “fuck.”

He might be the senior officer but he wasn’t old enough to think teaching a kid to swear i front of their parent was a good idea.

Besides he had thirty on it being Ham who taught TJ to swear.

There was a distant rumbling in the canyon. The storm was getting closer. Ham moved to one of the large couches. Careful to reposition TJ into his lap so he wouldn’t fall. The toddler was already starting to quiet down, eyes heavy but still alert. TJ’s eyes started looking towards the windows as the rain started. If the rain kept up TJ would be back asleep in ten minutes.

Three year olds shouldn’t be up this early.

Mont started bouncing the little guy in his lap. The steady motion combined with the soft rainfall started to lull the toddler back to sleep.

There was another distant crack of thunder. The big part of the storm would be on them soon.

TJ was nodding off. His steady breathing combined with the pitter patter of the rain had Mont wanted to drift off himself. Only the small life in his lap provided the proper incentive to stay awake. Mont still had to shift him off of his knees and into his lap once TJ started to tilt forward.

Another crack, this one much louder than the last, rang through the room. The flash of lightning lit up the room brighter than any of the electric lights. TJ barely twitched. If lad was anything like his father he would probably sleep through anything short of an air raid siren when he was asleep. Both the kid was just as tough as his dad. He wasn’t bothered by a little bit of thunder.

There was a squeak coming from the side door that led to the kitchen.

Mont turned towards the door, briefly wondering who would be crazy enough to get up at this hour in this weather. He had locked all the passageways behind him when he had traveled from one base to the other. None of Alpha would be able to pass through them, meaning they would have to walk through the canyon in the rain, and after his bed check he knew the sleeping members of his team would be out for at least three more hours.

That left one likely possibility.

Lopez stood in the doorway. His body straight and helmet impassive. He was completely unreadable.

Well, unreadable to anyone that wasn’t Montana.

Lopez had always been spooked by thunder. Even when he was stuck inside the UNSC standard 39-Dozer transport, Sarge and his team had lovingly dubbed “the Atmospear,” he hadn’t liked going planet side when there was even a whisper of a storm on the horizon. Mont had originally thought it was because he was afraid of the damage the rain could do to him. After they had lost... lost their team and Lopez had gotten his own body that fear had remained.

But now Lopez had a body that could seek out comfort from his fears.

Lopez had probably heard the starting echoes of the storm deep in VIC’s cave and had wrapped up his work before the weather proofing guards kicked in to sealed VIC in from any potential water issues. Lopez most likely had locked onto his heat signature the minute he had arrived back to the base. Mont found himself smiling at the form that twitched when another lightning bolt flashed through the windows.

“What’re you waiting for? Get over here.” Lopez didn’t need another invitation. He was standing beside Mont a minute later, removing his own helmet and chest plate. Mont found himself stifling in a laugh. He knew the proximity was important for Lopez, important enough that he would rather have to deal with drying his dripping wet armor in the corner of the room instead of stopping by his room to leave his armor or even just switch his body.

They had spent a lot of time fine tuning his body in the last five years. Although they still had Lopez’s original Covenant killing body locked up in the caves beneath the gulch, it hadn’t had much use in recent years beyond scaring away a few useless pirates and convincing some smugglers that the entire planet was haunted. Lopez had several bodies he used frequently depending on the situation or mission. The one he was using now was for everyday uses, it had an overall human appearance. It allowed him to work in the canyon with relative ease, run and fix equipment, and even improve on his own body. This body had synthetic skin and hair, providing him a necessary waterproofing as well as allowing him to blend in on covert missions and even scare a few doctors.

Other bodies differed depending on their uses, some were heavy and composed of cast iron. Lopez used them for welding and any high heat scenarios he found himself in.

Another bolt of lighting flashed and Lopez was practically jumping out of his pants and boots.

Mont shifted TJ in his arms and grabbed a blanket draped over the sofa arm. In this body Lopez could feel pressured, textures, heat, and cold, but they had needed to work on updating the sensors. After Ham had made a smartass comment about Lopez needing to be the temperature of a “normal human” instead of the outside of a refrigerator Mont had agreed that his body needed to work on raising the temperatures and adjusting the sensors of the synthetic skin. Until they worked out the bugs out Lopez would be cold in just his armor undersuit.

Mont tossed the blanket over Lopez. Who snatched it from the air and wrapped it around himself.

“The worst of it should pass soon.” Mont promised the shivering form.

Lopez didn’t respond. He didn’t have to.

There was a soft sigh and Lopez looked over to the small form of the sleeping TJ still laying in Mont’s lap. Mont could feel a smile form as Lopez eyed the child almost enviously. When another bolt of lightning lit up the room TJ didn’t stir while Lopez gave another startled jump.

“He’s handling the storm better than you apparently.” Mont tried to chuckle softly. But he only chuckled louder when Lopez hit him in the shoulder. TJ still didn’t stir.

The little bugger was still out like a light.

“C’mon, and sit down.” Mont commanded when Lopez jumped again with the thunder. The storm would be gone soon. Everyone else was still asleep in their rooms. VIC could handle the monitors until the storm let up. Lopez could use a rest.

Lopez didn’t need another offer. His shivering form was curled up next to Mont a second later. Mont shifted his arm so he could allow Lopez to warm up faster against his side. TJ let out a soft yawn and shifted in Mont’s lap, he curled up closer to Lopez. Lopez saw the movement and allowed a bit of the blanket to cover the toddler.

“How about you rest for a few hours? Everything is locked up tight and VIC can handle any transmissions we might get.” Lopez didn’t respond vocally. Instead he curled up next to Mont and shut his eyes.

Once Montana was sure Lopez was asleep he shifted just a bit and grabbed another blanket. He was careful to drape the blanket over both his grandson and his youngest son. They both ran a bit cool and Mont wasn’t sure if he would be enough to keep both of them warm with just one blanket.

Once he was sure both Lopez and TJ were properly covered Mont let himself relax. Everyone was safe for the time being. It didn’t matter that there was a team of strangers in both bases. The strangers were all asleep and would be gone by midday. It didn’t matter that there was a spy in their canyon. She was under close watch and they everything she had touched would be examined for for bugs and any other interferences when she left. It didn’t matter that Cali and Vern would be leaving with said traitor and a team of assholes in a few hours. They would be aware of everything going on before breakfast and they could take care of themselves and each other on the ship.

He had to enjoy moments like this now, and hope that there would be more in the future. He had to have faith in his men and their training. He believed in them and knew how capable they were. He would be there for them when they struggled or hit roadblocks and they knew that. All he could do was wait until they asked for help.

Another flash of lightning lit up the room. But Montana wasn’t bothered by it. All storms pass with time. The old soldier knew how to weather through it, and he had taught his kids how to do the same. They would make it through the storm together.

He had faith in them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sarge can admit a lot of stuff to himself. Not EVERYTHING, mind you, he still has some issues admitting how proud he is of Ham or the Blues. It was fun writing a proud dad Sarge.
> 
> So I'm going to maintain that CT is still the hardest person to write. Sarge is probably a close second, if only because of his accent. His voice is hard for me to write and maybe this chapter would have been out earlier if I had any clue on how to write a southern accent. This took so much longer because it was the only chapter that didn't have anything pre-written for it. Every other chapter had some paragraph written for it. I'm hoping that the next chapter will be out soon.
> 
> I'm so sorry for the delay but I also have an other oneshot and another chapter of What IF almost ready to make up for it. Keep an eye out in the next new days or so!
> 
> Please review and tell me what you think!
> 
> Only one more update or so!!!
> 
> Please take care of yourselves!!!  
> -Spazz

**Author's Note:**

> What will happen next????  
> Let me know what you think of this. if its good or bad don't be afraid to ask questions or if you need me to clarify anything.
> 
> Thank you for reading!!


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